12-year-old Santa Cruz girl’s fentanyl overdose under investigation

SANTA CRUZ — Police detectives are investigating an “alarming” drug case that left a 12-year-old girl overdosing on fentanyl in a city park, authorities said.

Emergency responders called shortly after 3:30 p.m. Feb. 19 to a restroom at Depot Park, where they discovered the young girl unconscious and in need of the opioid-overdose antidote naloxone, according to Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Jon Bush.

“Obviously a very rare and alarming incident for one, a 12-year-old to be getting their hands on and using fentanyl and two that there’s people out there willing to give or sell to people that young,” Bush said.

Fentanyl is a powerful, synthetic, short-acting narcotic drug, used in medical settings for severe pain and as a general anesthetic. The opioid painkiller is many times more powerful than heroin and frequently appears as an illegal street drug mixed with other substances. Fentanyl overdose-related deaths in Santa Cruz County have been on the rise since mid-2020, with related deaths beginning to skew toward younger age groups in 2022, according to a presentation given by Santa Cruz County Medical Pathologist Dr. Stephany Fiore at December’s annual county drug trends forum.

Bush told the Sentinel that the patient and another 12-year-old girl accompanying her, both of Santa Cruz, had been uncooperative with police about the details leading up to the overdose. However, a police investigation indicates that one of the girls arranged to meet an unknown man near a downtown parking structure in order to purchase suspected fentanyl. The girls, he said, were unaccompanied and unsupervised by any adults at the time. Detectives are attempting to track down video surveillance footage in the area that will allow them to identify and track down the drug supplier, Bush said.

After traveling to Depot Park, where the overdose occurred, the girl’s friend called 911, Bush said. After receiving care, the patient was released to the custody of her mother and was expected to receive substance use treatment services, he said. The state’s “Good Samaritan Law” provides limited protection from arrest, charge and prosecution for people who seek emergency medical assistance at the scene of a suspected drug overdose.