×

Man charged with exposing deputies to opioid

WARREN — A Newton Township man faces charges in connection to a Jan. 18 drug overdose call at Blue Water Manor Mobile Home Park that sickened three police officers who were exposed to an opioid.

Martin E. Higinbotham, 47, Kings Drive SW, is expected to be arraigned May 14 on three counts of assault on a police officer, one count tampering with evidence and two counts aggravated drug possession.

Higinbotham was indicted on the felony charges Tuesday by a Trumbull County grand jury. He is free on $25,000 bond that was set Jan. 22 in Newton Falls Municipal Court.

According to a report, three deputies with the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office responded just after 6 p.m. to 120 Kings Drive SW to a report a man there was overdosing on heroin. A man was found unconscious, lying on his back on the living room floor, the report states.

As deputies collected evidence in the living room the man woke up, then kicked the glass coffee table where a suspicious brown powdery substance lay, the report states. The substance went airborne directly in front of two deputies’ faces, the report states.

Shortly after, two deputies complained they were not feeling well and were instructed to go to Warren Township Police Department where they were picked up by a third deputy who was at the overdose scene, the report states.

The deputies, Sgt. Bobby Ross and deputies Dennis Garito and Brian Galida, were treated at St. Joseph Warren Hospital for exposure to suspected fentanyl.

Several doses of Narcan, a drug used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose were needed to revive the man, the report states. He was also treated at St. Joe’s before admitted to the Trumbull County Jail.

Higinbotham will be arraigned before Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Peter J. Kontos.

mkosinski@tribtoday.com

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
     

Starting at $4.85/week.

Subscribe Today