Chemicals sicken Georgia officers investigating a body
Three Georgia police officers are hospitalized after coming into a chemical while investigating a dead body in a motel room.
Three Georgia police officers were released from the hospital Sunday after being sickened by chemical fumes while investigating a dead body in a motel room, officials said.
Officials were called to the United Inn & Suites in Decatur just after 4 p.m. Saturday about a dead body in a room on the third floor, FOX5 Atlanta reported. Three Dekalb County police officers entered the room and reported feeling dizzy and nauseous after coming in contact with the chemical that had killed a 48-year-old man in the room.
Three Georgia police officers were sickened by an unknown chemical when they entered a motel room with a dead body inside. (AP)
"Something in there made the officers sick," Fire Capt. Eric Jackson said on Saturday.
The FBI responded to the scene and identified Sunday the chemical found in the room as a mix of household cleaners.
“Other than a combination of household cleaning solutions, no other harmful substances have been identified at this time,” police told Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The officers were taken to the hospital and were said to be conscious and alert Saturday night.
A DeKalb County law enforcement officer stands outside a guest room at the United Inn and Suites Hotel Saturday. (AP)
Hotel guests near the contaminated room were evacuated shortly after the incident as a precaution.
"The police were telling us to leave," one guest told FOX5. "We've been out of our room for three hours... What was really the cause?"
HAZMAT crews arrived at the scene and took samples of the substance.
An autopsy will be conducted to determine the man’s cause of death, which is not being treated as a homicide.
Police did not release his name as of Sunday, and it’s unclear if the man was exposed to the substance accidentally or on purpose.
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