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Hazmat crews swarm Hollywood Park police after mysterious substance erupts during testing

What seemed to be a bottle of Tylenol ended up causing a loud noise, a mess and alarm, but no injuries according to Hollywood Park police officials.

HOLLYWOOD PARK, Texas — One Hollywood Park police officer went through quite the eruptive experience over the weekend following a traffic stop and discovery of a strange, pink substance.

It began as a routine traffic stop for a speeding violation around 7 p.m. Saturday.

Hollywood Park Police Chief Shad Prichard said the driver, who was a courier for a pharmacy, had multiple arrest warrants. Once officer Denyse Munoz took the man into custody, she checked the car and came across what appeared to be a Tylenol bottle.

“When the officer opened it up, it had a pink liquid in it, which obviously isn’t a tablet of Tylenol and when she asked the driver what it was, he said he wasn’t sure,” Prichard said.

Munoz kicked off a series of tests on the substance back at the police station.

“When you have a substance where you don’t know what it is, you have to start with test A and work your way down the list until you come up with the right test,” Prichard said.

Munoz worked way to the heroin test, which is when Prichard said it got messy.

“When she puts the substance and closes up the flap of the test and sets it down, it didn’t take long for that thing to buildup pressure and it sounds about like a large firecracker,” Prichard said.

The substance splattered everywhere, including on Officer Munoz. Bexar County Hazmat and an ATF bomb squad agent quickly arrived with a relieving resolution to the startling event.

“Once the hazmat team came and tested the substance to let us know, it’s basically alcohol and peroxide, we all felt much better about it and she’s doing just fine,” Prichard said.

Hollywood police say rubbing alcohol has a violent reaction when it’s mixed with a certain chemical in their heroin field test kit.

Prichard noted from now, if they come across an unknown substance, they’ll send off to a DPS crime lab first for the safety of officers.

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