Judge Gary Lee reluctantly granted bail for a 27-year-old heroin overdose victim on Monday.

“The officers thought she was dead,” Lee told defense attorney Kyle Craig.

The woman, whom the Minot Daily News has chosen not to identify, was in district court on a misdemeanor possession charge.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed with the court, she was found on Saturday “unconscious, unresponsive, and barely breathing, with a needle in her arm.”

Kevin Cory, the first officer to arrive on scene at the southwest Minot residence, wrote that he grabbed nitrite gloves and his AED from his patrol vehicle. He was directed to the bathroom, where he found the woman unconscious, barely breathing and turning blue. Cory wrote that he put his face mask on over his mouth and nose because he was concerned about possible exposure to the deadly opioid drug fentanyl. Contact with fentanyl, even in small amounts, can lead to an overdose or even sicken first responders to a medical emergency.

A caller had told the dispatcher that the woman is a known user of heroin and methamphetamine. Cory grabbed Narcan, a prescription medication that is used to block the effects of opioids, out of his pocket and, opened the container, and sprayed the medication into the woman’s nostrils. The woman began to regain color and regained consciousness.

Cory wrote that he believed the woman had overdosed on heroin, based on her reaction to the Narcan. He found a plastic bag with a white substance in her left pocket, which he believed was heroin, and six pills in her left front pocket. Cory placed all of the narcotics in a plastic bag and then double bagged it, based on the fear of them being fentanyl.

Police officers now carry Narcan to revive victims of a drug overdose. Drug overdoses have become more common in the community, as they have across the state.

The woman was taken to the Ward County Jail and made an initial apperance on the charge on Monday.

After reading the probable cause affidavit, Lee said he was hesitant to grant the woman bond out of fear that she might do serious harm to herself.

Ward County Assistant State’s Attorney Caitlyn Pierson had argued for a higher cash bond with the understanding that the state would consider lowering the bond if the woman offered proof she had enrolled in a drug treatment program.

But Craig argued for a percentage bond, saying that the woman has a job that would be compromised if she remained in jail and that she has a baby daughter she must make arrangements for. Craig told the judge that this was a serious lapse, but the woman has been in treatment and has a strong support system at her church, so he doesn’t think she’s in great risk of an immediate relapse.

Lee granted bond in the amount of $2,500, with a requirement that the woman post 10 percent of that, and that she undergo twice weekly urinalysis testing for drugs. He said he had expressed his concerns, but the woman was in court on a misdemeanor charge.

The case was only the first of several drug-related cases that Lee saw Monday in district court.