DERBY — A trooper on patrol in Derby was taken to the hospital after being exposed to fentanyl during a traffic stop on Sunday.
Police say the trooper stopped a vehicle for speeding on Pine Hill Road.
The driver was identified as 32-year-old Roland Souliere, Jr., of Orleans.
According to the report, Souliere was operating without a valid Vermont license, as well as using an invalid inspection sticker.
Police say during the stop, indicators of drug possession were observed and an investigation was conducted.
“A search of the vehicle yielded items of drug paraphernalia, as well as a substance suspected to be the narcotic Fentanyl,” Trooper Daniel Lynch wrote in his report.
During the incident, the trooper was exposed to an unlawfully possessed Fentanyl transdermal patch and was transported to North Country Hospital by Newport EMS for precautionary treatment.
Souliere was issued a criminal citation to appear in court to answer to the offense of unlawfully possessing a narcotic and released from the scene.
Unlawfully possessing a narcotic is punishable by not more than one-year imprisonment, or a $2,000.00 fine, or both.
