Victoria police officer stabbed with needle during overdose response

A Victoria police officer was stabbed with a syringe while responding to a drug overdose Saturday night.

The police department says officers were patrolling the 900-block of Pandora Avenue around 8:30 p.m. when they were notified that someone had overdosed nearby.

Police found the victim, who was not breathing and had no pulse, in the 900-block of Mason Street, according to a news release from the department.

The officers administered nasal naloxone and CPR on the overdose victim.

Police say a crowd began to gather and tried to intervene in their care.

Additional police officers arrived and began moving the crowd back. One of those officers was then stabbed under his arm with a needle by a man in the crowd, police said.

Police disarmed the man and took him into custody. He was taken to VicPD cells to await a court appearance on recommended charges of obstruction and assaulting a police officer with a weapon.

The officer was treated in hospital and released.

The person suffering from the overdose regained consciousness and declined further medical attention from paramedics, police said.