Defense attorney Kenneth Haber said he plans to challenge an aggravated assault charge against his client that stems from a state trooper reportedly receiving Narcan while investigating a drug case.

“I’m confident that charge is not really applicable here,” he said.

Haber is representing Robert M. Whitley Jr., 25, who was arrested May 23 after state police reported in court papers that they learned he would be transporting drugs from Allegheny County into Murrysville. They stopped his vehicle in a parking lot and reported finding more than 40 bricks of suspected heroin or fentanyl and about 5.5 ounces of suspected cocaine, according to court papers.

Authorities reported that a trooper involved in the investigation came into contact with an unknown substance in Whitley’s vehicle and began exhibiting signs of possible narcotics exposure upon returning to the station in Greensburg. Multiple doses of opioid overdose reversal drug Narcan were administered. The trooper was taken to a hospital.

Haber said he has been researching such situations and referenced a National Institutes of Health article that calls them “false overdose events.”

Assistant District Attorney Krista Koontz said prosecutors based the aggravated assault charge on reckless actions by the suspect.

Judge Scott Mears said it will be an interesting issue, adding that he expected the defense to challenge the charge.

“I have great sympathy for any law enforcement personnel who’s forced to deal with those drugs and they’re exposed to them,” he said.

Whitley was in court Friday seeking bond to be set in his case. He was denied bond at the time of his arrest. Mears set it at $100,000.

“I do find that … the amount of drugs involved here is significant,” Mears said.

Haber said he plans to file pretrial motions in an effort to suppress evidence related to a search of Whitley’s vehicle and a search warrant.