Thursday, October 1, 2026
A woman was taken into custody for the alleged assault of firefighters and damaging their medical equipment.
According to a report from the Olympia Police Department, Olympia Fire Department (OFD) personnel responded to a report of a woman lying unconscious on the railroad tracks in the 700 block of Columbia Street SW on the evening of July 14.
The emergency responders observed that the woman, identified as Kimberly J. Johnson, 47, had overdosed and immediately administered Narcan.
“Upon Narcan taking effect, Kimberly got up, became angry with OFD, began punching them ... threw rocks at them, and grabbed hold of one of the pieces of breathing equipment and broke it into multiple pieces,” a responding officer stated in the report.
The damaged medical equipment cost roughly $1,200.
When responding officers arrived, Johnson reportedly attempted to strike one of them and resisted arrest, prompting police to bring her to the ground to prevent further assaults. She suffered a minor chin injury, but declined treatment.
After a medical evaluation, Johnson was booked into the Thurston County Corrections Facility on suspicion of third-degree assault and second-degree malicious mischief.
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Shushu
Rule#1 when giving narcan to someone unconscious they may become violent. As professionals did no one know this? If given IV it should have been titrated for effect. Not in favor of narcotic addiction but an addicts reaction to sudden cessation is hardly her fault. An ER visit with restraints to let narcan wear off and titrate as needed seems more humane
Friday, August 1, 2025 Report this
Gigi319
Shame on you posting a person's photo in this mental and physical state and in such a vulnerable position. EMS teams should already be trained on naloxone administration. Nobody else should get arrested for overdosing. Think about this; you were revived, you come to and the feeling is that of being hit by a bus, having food poisoning and the flu all at the same time. Oh, and there is a bunch of people standing over you. Not to mention the amount of oxygen lost. You wouldn't be able to control the involuntary movements your body is making. And if you think, "you shouldn't have done the fentanyl," you try living outside, in constant survival mode. Not one BASIC need a human requires to properly function is being met...
And no, there aren't enough shelter beds in our county for every to person experiencing houselessness.
Friday, August 1, 2025 Report this
peterpumpkinhead
Look, you can pontificate all you want, but in the real world when responding to a pt who is unresponsive and possibly apneic you don't futz around with titrating to effect. Thurston County has protocols for the administration of Naloxone by EMS personnel.
Your assumptions that the responders did something wrong or that they didn't know what they were doing is just armchair quarterbacking that serves no useful purpose.
Saturday, August 2, 2025 Report this
LaceyDad
The story is appropriate but the photo is not what I would consider tasteful journalism. I hope JOLT decides to remove it.
Saturday, August 2, 2025 Report this
tumh2o99
Three things wrong with this story.
First, just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD. This picture is absolutely unnecessary to the story and serves no purpose except to humiliate this person who clearly is at the lowest ebb of her life. JOLT erred in running this photo and should take it down.
Second, the story serves to illustrate the power of Narcan - it literally stops the "high" from opiates. And people who "come to" as a result of administration of Narcan are usually disoriented, and often are angry and combative. There is little public knowledge about the power of Narcan or the debilitating, de-humanizing effects of addiction.
Finally, to the the police department - it seems excessive to pile a bunch of criminal charges on this person for actions that she likely had little control over.
Saturday, August 2, 2025 Report this
11B4ever
LMAO! I love this photo. Should be included with every opioid prescription.
Saturday, August 2, 2025 Report this
Porter
Well, not one of you was there taking care of poor Kim when she overdosed and collapsed on the tracks. Not one of you was there to help revive her. You have criticism for the people we ask to take care of our human waste. Get out there and do it yourselves if you've got a problem with the methods.
Sunday, August 3, 2025 Report this
BettyVerdammt
Forty-seven? Don't do Opioids, people.
Sunday, August 3, 2025 Report this
KarenMcIrish
Thank you for posting her picture. We do this in FL all the time. Maybe having their pictures out there will help getting sober come sooner
Monday, August 4, 2025 Report this
BettyVerdammt
Does posting pictures of those under the influence shame people into sobriety? Has either Florida or Ireland sobered up due to this practice, Karen?
Monday, August 4, 2025 Report this
Mugwump
I have no criticism of the medical or law enforcement personnel who we ask to perform these difficult and sometimes dangerous duties. None whatsoever.
But, I can't get past the thought that this is someone's daughter. Possibly someone's mother, aunt, or friend. She may have gone to high school here and possibly attended the prom or even been valedictorian. It is a tragedy to see so many people in so much distress. I know her story may be the result of years of bad luck, bad decisions, abuse, or mental illness, but this is a human being. What we do to the homeless, addicted, and/or mentally ill is a crime. Allowing them to suffer and potentially die on the streets in the name of individual or civil rights is not compassion, it's cruelty. It's enabling. And it's wrong. We can argue endlessly about people who are homeless because they're priced out of housing. And I believe in many cases it is true. But what we're seeing here is not a problem that can be solved with a free house. What we're seeing here is society allowing people who have lost the ability to make healthy choices for themselves to suffer and die slowly as we assuage our guilt by handing them a dollar or two when we past them on the sidewalk.
I think it's time for us to acknowledge that what we're doing doesn't work. It doesn't reduce crime. It doesn't reduce addiction. It doesn't reduce violence. And it surely doesn't reduce peoples' suffering. Everyone should have a home, it's true. But also, everyone should receive the care and treatment they need to be a functioning member of society, even if that treatment is compulsory. There, I said it.
People are in real trouble. It's time we stopped looking the other way.
Monday, August 4, 2025 Report this
pbaron1902
I agree wuth Mugwump!
Tuesday, August 5, 2025 Report this