Police received state lab results from the testing of “pellets” believed to have sickened a civilian and a patrol officer Monday and it shows no presence of a controlled drug, said Portsmouth, New Hampshire, police Lt. Michael Maloney.
“At this point it is still undetermined what exactly caused the officer and witness to feel ill,” Maloney said Thursday, while describing the items as “white plastic type pellets.”
Maloney said the police investigation is complete and “we may not be able to completely figure out why this happened.”
The civilian called police shortly after 3 p.m. Monday to say he was cleaning a car that had been returned to an auto dealership and became ill after sniffing something he found in the car he thought was a mint. That person sought medical attention at a Lafayette Road walk-in health clinic, said police.
A patrol officer was dispatched to pick up the item and at 3:40 p.m. Oct. 23, the officer radioed to police headquarters that he was feeling dizzy, was shaking and was disoriented. The officer pulled over to the side of Greenleaf Avenue, was picked up by other officers and brought to Portsmouth Regional Hospital where he was evaluated, then released.
Maloney said Monday night that the officer took custody of the pill-like item using double gloves and never even touched it. He said several more of the items were seized by police from the car at the dealership.