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Suspect Stabs Officer With Heroin Needle While Trying To Flee A Drug Den

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Steve Birr Vice Reporter
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A suspect attempting to flee police stabbed a detective with a hypodermic needle used for heroin during a drug raid at a residence in Yarmouth, Massachusetts.

The incident unfolded Wednesday afternoon when officers with the Yarmouth Police Department were called to a rental property at 12 Amelia Way where they learned a man with an arrest warrant was staying. Police initially arrested 28-year-old Michael Geggatt over two warrants issued for shoplifting and driving without a license, along with 29-year-old Michael Santos, who police witnessed injecting heroin, reports WCVB 5.

Detectives were later called to conduct a full search of the home, during which they found two men hiding in bedrooms. When they tried to arrest 31-year-old Euclides Matias, he attempted to flee and stabbed a detective with a heroin needle. (RELATED: CDC Warns Of ‘Dramatic Rise’ In Synthetic Opioid Deaths Over 2017)

“Unfortunately during the attack, the detective was stuck with a used hypodermic needle and was later treated at Cape Cod Hospital for this infectious exposure,” said a spokesman for the Yarmouth Police Department, according to WCVB 5.

Matias is charged with resisting arrest, assault and battery on a police officer and possession of fentanyl. It is unclear the total amount of drugs seized by detectives during the search.

Drug overdoses, fueled by opioids like fentanyl and heroin, are the leading cause of accidental death for Americans under age 50, killing more than 64,000 people in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The epidemic is contributing to declining life expectancy in the U.S., officials say. Life expectancy dropped for the second consecutive year in 2016 for the first time since an outbreak of influenza in 1962 and 1963.

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