Flyers placed on Texas police vehicles laced with fentanyl

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - The Harris County Sheriff's Office is warning the public about flyers placed on windshields because they may be laced with a dangerous opioid.

On Tuesday afternoon, HCSO reported that these flyers were placed on the windshields of as many as fifteen marked and unmarked law enforcement vehicles on 601 Lockwood. The flyers may have been put on the windsheilds as early as 8 a.m. Tuesday morning.

Sheriff Ed Gonzalez says the flyers had anti-government messages on them. At least one of the papers tested positive for the drug fentanyl. 

Authorities say one sergeant who touched a flier received medical treatment and was later released from the hospital.

"Fentanyl can be very toxic," describes Sheriff Gonzalez. "Even small amounts embedded in a flyer, in a paper, is something that could cause symptoms and many times, had this sergeant not acted quickly and gotten help, many times, it can end up deadly."

Hazardous materials crews spent several hours clearing the scene on Tuesday afternoon.

Fentanyl exposure is a great fear our local law enforcement agencies have. They fear it so much that drug field testing has been banned. It’s a drug that’s 100 times more potent than morphine. Dr. Daryl Shorter, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine yells Fox26 that “if someone is opioid naive, meaning that they really haven’t had a lot of experience taking opioids for pain or for surgery or something like that. And they’re not chronically taking opioids, if they happen to encounter Fentanyl they are likely to experience symptoms of an overdose.”

If you see the flyers, do not touch them. You are encouraged to contact authorities immediately.