Days after St. Paul Police Department Officer John Conrad, Jr. received training in the use of the overdose-counteracting drug Narcan, he got to save a woman's life with it.

Conrad noticed a vehicle driving unusually slowly near Kellogg Boulevard and Broadway Street during his normal patrol Tuesday. The driver appeared to be hitting a passenger in the back seat, Conrad said.

"I could see the driver of the vehicle was almost in the back seat and driving with one hand on the wheel," he said in an interview Thursday.

He pulled the driver over after she nearly hit a parked car. The driver said her friend needed help. In the back seat, Conrad saw a pale, motionless woman.

The victim's skin was bluish, he said, and her pupils were constricted — a sign of overdose. Her breathing was slow and erratic. The driver had been pushing on the passenger's stomach and chest to stimulate her breathing as she drove, Conrad said.

Conrad called paramedics immediately. The driver told him the passenger had a history of drug abuse. Just days earlier, Conrad had been trained in using Narcan. He and his partners knew they had to administer Narcan right away in hopes of saving the woman's life.

"After administering the Narcan, about 15 to 20 seconds or so … she actually started breathing more on her own," Conrad said. "Then she actually became alert and [started] talking with the medics when they arrived."

Since the St. Paul Police Department launched Narcan training for officers in early December, all the department's officers have completed the training and are equipped with the medication, said St. Paul Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Mike Ernster.

A St. Paul officer first successfully used Narcan on Dec. 24. Officers have used the drug five times since, he said.

"It's about making those seconds count," Ernster said. "Narcan is another tool for officers to recapture those minutes and seconds and make a difference for those people."

Rilyn Eischens is a University of Minnesota student reporter on assignment for the Star Tribune.