Four people are under arrest after the discovery of another meth lab in Louisville. However, the 60th meth bust of 2008 was anything but a routine one. As WAVE 3's Carrie Weil reports, it early happened Thursday morning in the 200 block of York Street and landed two Louisville Metro Police officers in the hospital.
Every time police find a meth lab, it is a dangerous situation. But Thursday morning, officers had no idea what they were walking into.
The Hampton Hall Apartments building at 209 York Street looks harmless enough, the police car lights outside Thursday morning give only a vague clue how dangerous the situation was inside just hours before. At 3:40 a.m., police officers and firefighters responded to what they thought was a fire on the second floor.
"Our officers responded, entered the apartment looking to see if there were any potential victims of the fire. Upon entry, they realized it was a meth lab that had exploded," said Officer Phil Russell, an LMPD spokesperson.
Two LMPD officers inhaled toxic fumes and were taken to University Hospital for treatment. Both were decontaminated and released.
As other officers worked to clean up the mess, Joseph Goostree, Adam Ward, Jeremy Ellis and Kelly Neeld were booked in Metro Corrections. All four were charged with manufacturing meth. Metro Police say they not only broke the law, but put a lot of people in danger.
"The dangers are not just of meth users or manufacturers, but certainly you have volatile substances like that that are in a second floor apartment building, it created a substantial risk to a lot of people," Russell said.
While two officers hurt was bad enough, things could have been even worse. That is why police say if you suspect any kind of drug activity in your apartment or neighborhood, call them on the LMPD Crime Tip Line at 574-LMPD.