Heroes: Ingenuity Helps Elmwood Park Officers Save OD Victim Trapped In Route 46 Hotel Bathroom

An overdosing heroin user was blacked out and gasping when Elmwood Park police were called to a Route 46 hotel.

The OD victim was wedged between the bathroom door and toilet in the bathroom at the Red Carpet Inn on route 46, making it impossible for Elmwood Park police to get to him,
Photo Credit: *GoogleMaps Street View / EPPD*

05/17/2023 6:26 p.m.

Unfortunately, the 32-year-old overdose victim was wedged between the bathroom door and toilet, making it impossible for them to get to him, Police Chief Michael Foligno said.

Time, meanwhile, was ticking.

The walls at the Red Carpet Inn are made of sheetrock, the chief said, so Lt. Robert Centkowski fetched some breaching tools.

First he cut a hole in the wall big enough for Officer Anthony Ingraffia to reach in and administer two doses of Narcan, Foligno said.

The lieutenant then widened the hole so Officer Hanz Brady could climb through, he said.

The victim eventually regained consciousness as EMTs and members of an ALS unit worked on him in the room, Foligno said.

He was still lethargic -- but alive -- when brought to St. Joseph's University Medical Center in Paterson, the chief said.

"The actions of the officers without a doubt saved the life of this individual," Foligno said. "They remained calm and were quick thinking."

Formal recognition will soon be arranged, the chief said.

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