Editor’s Note: The above video shows private security guards administering Narcan in downtown Austin. The video contains sensitive material. Viewer discretion is advised.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The private security company hired by a group of downtown Austin businesses to patrol a portion of Sixth Street said guards helped administer Narcan this week amid a spike of overdoses.
As of Wednesday, Austin-Travis County EMS said it responded to about 70 suspected overdoses. As of Thursday afternoon, nine people died.
"An increase in overdoses and more and more cases of member of the public just coming and flagging us down and asking for help," said John Cade with Nxt Lvl Security, the firm hired to work downtown.
Two people have been arrested in connection with the incidents. KXAN has asked the Austin Police Department for more details on the arrests and will update this story when we hear back.
Security guards administered 23 doses of Narcan between 16 people. On a normal week, the downtown team helps 1-5 people, according to the security company.
ATCEMS said it's grateful groups like private security guards carry Narcan, and the agency said on several occasions - because someone else administered Narcan - patients are already starting to wake up by the time medics get there. However, ATCEMS also said many overdose cases require more than one dose of Narcan, so medics often also deliver subsequent rounds.
"With this surge, they’re not necessarily attempting to take opioids. They’re using K2, crack cocaine, Xanax, a number of other substances," ATCEMS Captain Christa Stedman said. "Whatever is doing this is making its way into everything, and that's why we need people to be alert."
The company was hired last year to patrol the following streets amid a staffing shortage at the Austin Police Department:
These private security patrols began last summer. The businesses who hired them said the primary goal was to deter illegal drug activity and unruly behavior downtown.
“Some building managers and owners have expressed needing constant security in these areas,” APD said in a statement when KXAN first asked about the security patrols last year. “APD cannot commit these resources to certain areas 24 hours a day/seven days a week, and is aware that some business owners and managers are opting to hire private security to ensure their businesses are protected.”
The nonprofit "Association of People Against Lethal Drugs" is hosting its annual rally starting at 4 p.m. Friday on the south steps of the Texas Capitol Building.
The event was already planned, it's not taking place because of this week's deadly cases, but organizers like Krissy Wells, who's running this year's event, said these incidents make their mission of calling for harsher penalties for dealers that much more important.
"We want people who are poisoning people on purpose and know their drug can kill people and just want to make a profit, we want them to go to prison, because that's where they belong," she said.
The event will run until 7 p.m.
