Maine police department says officer died of opioid overdose

LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — Police in a Maine city say an officer who died in February succumbed to an accidental opioid overdose.

Lewiston Police Chief Brian T. O’Malley says 34-year-old Nicholas Meserve died from acute fentanyl intoxication. O’Malley says an investigation by the state’s chief medical examiner determined the cause and manner of death.

Cause of death of Officer Nicholas Meserve has been released. Lewiston police chief Brian O’Malley says that Officer Nicholas Meserve died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl. The 34-year-old Officer Meserve died at his home in Lewiston on Feb 8. https://t.co/ZpGK2AdFxm pic.twitter.com/bskgoW2TjC

— NEWS CENTER Maine (@newscentermaine) May 2, 2019

The Sun Journal reports an investigation by the Maine Attorney General’s Office, the Maine State Police and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency’s still going on.

O’Malley says nothing in performance reviews or observations of Meserve’s work indicated he might have been battling drug dependency. He says the city’s negotiating with police unions to start a drug testing policy to identify possible substance abuse problems and help employees cope with them.

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