14 DAY TRIAL // The chief of police in Laurelville, Ohio has required hospitalization after mistakenly ingesting a large quantity of marijuana.
According to 10 TV Central Ohio, Police Chief Mike Berkemeier ate a cake found in his kitchen and started feeling nauseous soon after.
“I got up in the morning and ate it -- the entire thing,” he recalls of how his ordeal has started.
He began experiencing physical and mental distress and headed for the police station, while feeling confused and having trouble driving.
“I don’t remember much of the drive here, even though it’s just a few blocks and was met by a couple of the medics from the fire department,” he notes.
Once arriving at the station, he started panicking and an ambulance was called in. He was transported to Berger Hospital in Circleville where doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with him.
“I kept trying to explain to them this wasn’t getting any better. It just got worse,” he said. “I felt like I was out of my mind,” Berkemeier adds.
“I thought I was dying. [...] It was probably the scariest thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life,” he said.
It wasn't until his fiancée dialed his daughter that the teenager admitted to a friend bringing over pot-laced cookies into their home.
“My fiancée hung up the phone and called for the nurse and said, ‘Get a nurse here right away. I know what it is,’” Berkemeier describes.
He has been treated for intoxication brought on by ingesting cannabis oil in high doses. The Hocking County Sheriff’s office have yet to press charges, but are investigating whether or not this is a deliberate attempt at drugging the police officer.
If that is the case, the person responsible for leaving the pot cake on the police chief's counter is facing counts of assault and corruption with drugs.