Police chief in Ohio dies of fentanyl OD

Associated Press

REYNOLDSBURG

An autopsy shows a police chief in an Ohio village where one of his predecessors was gunned down last year fatally overdosed on the powerful opioid fentanyl.

A report released Friday by the Franklin County Coroner’s Office says Kirkersville Police Chief James Hughes’ death in May at his Reynoldsburg home was an accident.

Investigators found one syringe with fentanyl residue, a second with fentanyl in a liquid, and a sandwich bag containing cocaine residue.

Reynoldsburg police weren’t immediately available for comment Friday.

Hughes became chief in March after Steven Eric Disario’s successor resigned. Disario was chief for only three weeks when he was gunned in May 2017 while responding to a hostage situation. His killer then fatally shot two nursing home employees and took his own life.