Police: Hazmat Incident 'Does Not Appear to be Criminal'

Last Thursday’s  and sent one resident and a police officer to the hospital after being contaminated, does not appear to be criminal, according to the Westfield Polce.

 Captain David Wayman said officers are still interviewing the Westfield woman in her early 20s who was taken to Overlook Medical Center after passing out and complaining of difficulty breathing. The woman called 911 Thursday morning saying she had difficulty breathing. Wayman said the police department is not releasing the woman’s name at the present time.

“We’re still interviewing her,” Wayman said Tuesday morning. “Right at this time it does not appear to be criminal in nature.”

Wayman said police have not determined if the ammonia and bleach mixture was made as part of a suicide attempt. He said the woman did mix the two chemicals in a bucket that was part of a tent erected in the 40-acre bucolic nature preserve.

Wayman said he was not sure how much of each of the chemicals was mixed together in the bucket. The two chemicals, when mixed together, create a gas which can lead to breathing difficulty and eventually death. Last week, Union County emergency management officials said that the woman could have died if she had not been treated.

The woman was decontaminated at the scene before being taken to Overlook, along with a police officer who was contaminated by the mixture. A second police officer was able to be decontaminated without being transported to Overlook. Wayman said he did not know the woman’s current medical condition.

Wayman said the state Department of Environmental Protection removed all of the chemicals and the tent from the park and deemed the parkland safe of chemicals on Thursday afternoon, before allowing police officers to do a security sweep of the park.

During initial response on Thursday – which closed down several residential streets in the Brightwood neighborhood – police officers took out several assault rifles and body armor. Wayman said at the time the move was done do to unknown screams that were heard coming from within the park.

“After everything was removed by DEP, our officers went in and searched the entire area and made sure it was safe for everyone,” Wayman said on Tuesday. “Nothing else and no one else was located.”