AIRWAY HEIGHTS, Wash. — Fentanyl poisoning is a serious issue here in the Inland Northwest.
Recently, viewers reached out about an online post that claimed a shopper in Airway Heights found the handle on their car laced with fentanyl. They wanted to know if it actually happened.
We can Verify the online claim is false.
THE QUESTION
I have seen a posting on Facebook about a female going out to her car at the Airway Heights Walmart and discovering a piece of paper wrapped around the door handle of her car. An officer took the piece of paper to get it tested and it was covered in fentanyl and ketamine. Please verify if there is any truth to this story.
THE SOURCES
Walmart
Emergency Room Doctor Merhdod Ehteshami
THE ANSWER
We can Verify that the posts about fentanyl-laced door handles are false. Airway Heights Police state that “working in collaboration with Walmart management, our team found no record of the incident. Therefore, the information on the (Facebook) page is untrue and unfounded.”
WHAT WE FOUND
Similar posts on social media spurred many questions. In the posts, the author claims a woman was shopping at the Walmart in Airway Heights, and when she went back to her car, she found a piece of paper on the door handle. The post goes on to claim that police tested the paper and it was covered with fentanyl.
Airway Heights Police responded to the claim on Facebook. In a post the police department said:
“Working in collaboration with Walmart management, our team found no record of the incident. Therefore, the information on the Facebook page is untrue and unfounded.”
Airway Heights Police point out that fentanyl is one of the deadliest drugs on the market. Officers take precautions with illegal drugs and anything questionable would be sent to a crime lab to be tested.
Furthermore, while fentanyl can come in a patch form, the version that is available on the drug market is not absorbed through the skin, as ER Dr. Mehrdod Ehteshami explained in an interview with our sister station 11 Alive.
"Fentanyl is something that people do use illegally, actually, to overdose for recreational purposes. But this is not one of those things, and it's not one of those ways that you will overdose, by grabbing a shopping cart or going to your car," Ehteshami explained.
So, we can Verify, claims about fentanyl found on a door handle in Airway Heights are false.
If you have something you’d like KREM 2 News to Verify, send an email to: verify@krem.com.