TAVARES, Fla. — Tavares police officer Courtney Bannick, who was administered NARCAN after a suspected fentanyl overdose during a traffic stop, says she's still not entirely sure how the drug got into her system.

What You Need To Know

  • Tavares police officer Courtney Bannick experienced a suspected overdose during a traffic stop on Tuesday

  • She was issued three doses of NARCAN as a result, but says she's still not completely sure how the drugs got into her system

  • The drugs seized during the traffic stop are now being examined by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement

  • Bannick says she is expecting to return to work on Friday

Tuesday around midnight during a routine traffic stop Tavares Police Department officer Courtney Bannick says a drug sniffing dog alerted her of drugs in the vehicle. While searching the suspect in the car she did says she found multiple powdery bags along with loose powder on a dollar bill.

Shortly after rolling the dollar bill with the powder back up, and placing it in an evidence bag is when she began to have symptoms of an apparent overdose.

“I don’t know if did I wipe my face or my nose, I cant give you an answer,” Bannick said Thursday. “I don’t know, it’s just a normal thing your nose is running you have gloves on you use your sleeve. I don’t know.”

Officials did not say how much of the suspected fentanyl Bannick was exposed to, but the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is continuing its investigation into the incident.

Dr. Jennyfer Miller is the medical director at the Orlando Recovery Center where she helps treat individuals with addiction. Miller said it's possible fentanyl could have accidentally been inhaled, which is often how people overdose on the drug.

“Fentanyl is very strong, it is very potent,” Miller said. “If it was something internasal, it would go in and act really quick.”

After watching the video of Bannick, which was released by the Tavares Police Department, Miller said the officer was showing definite signs of an overdose.

”She looks like she is definitely under the influence of probably, I would say an opioid,” Miller said while watching the video. 

Bannick said she believes it was an opioid overdose that caused her to pass out, as opposed to some sort of anxiety attack — something she says she has never suffered from in the past — caused by the stress of the situation.

“Right now if I was to take NARCAN and put it in my nose, I am not going to have any reverse effects,” she said. “It does not change anything. NARCAN only works on opiate overdoses.”

Miller agreed, saying that if someone not overdosing on an opioid was given NARCAN, nothing would really happen, because the drug's purpose is to displace opioids in an individual's system.

While reviewing the video of Bannick, Miller said the officer was showing the signs you would expect from a person coming out of an overdose after receiving NARCAN

Miller said she did not see anything in the video that would indicate Bannick was experiencing something other than an overdose.

While on patrol Bannick says she has come across fentanyl at least 100 times. It is a drug Tavares Police Chief Sarah Coursey says has led to 18 overdoses in the past month and a half — and three times that many across Lake County in the past 90 days.

“I would say that those numbers are probably under reported,” said Miller, who also treats patients once a week in Lake County. “They’re probably more overdoses that we just don’t know.“

Following the incident involving Bannick, Coursey said her officers will now start carrying extra doses of NARCAN in all police vehicles.

“We are dealing with something everyday,” Bannick said. “These street scientists are coming up and manufacturing fentanyl have to continuously go above what they have previously done.”

The Tavares Police Department is now waiting for FDLE investigators to release their report on the suspected fentanyl seized during the traffic stop.