Deputies Actions Credited for Saving Crash Victim’s Life
Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Skye Ortiz’s and Deputy Roman Maier’s quick thinking and actions are credited for saving the life of a juvenile passenger of a rollover crash on I-90 last week. As the first units to arrive at the scene, they quickly assessed the injuries and recognized a male passenger had severe arterial bleeding from a wound and immediately applied two tourniquets to control the enormous loss of blood.
On July 30, 2017 at approximately 3:20 a.m., Spokane County Deputies responded to a report of a one vehicle rollover crash on I-90 near MP 261 in West Spokane County. While en route, deputies received additional information one person was trapped in the vehicle and was losing blood from his arm.
Deputy Ortiz arrived first at the scene and began to assess the condition of the injured. His attention was drawn to the male juvenile still in the back seat area of the overturned vehicle. He was holding a blood soaked towel on his arm and appear to be fading in and out of consciousness. Deputy Ortiz entered the vehicle to gain access to the victim and observed a large amount of arterial bleeding coming from the open wound on his arm. Deputy Maier who had also arrived on scene, handed Deputy Ortiz a tourniquet to help stop the bleeding. After the tourniquet was applied and the bleeding slowed but continued, a second tourniquet was applied which stopped the bleeding.
Fire personnel, AMR and Washington State Patrol Troopers arrived at the scene and began to assist.
Life Flight was requested and transported the male due to the seriousness of his injury and the large amount of blood loss. The additional three juvenile occupants of the vehicle were transported to the hospital by ambulance.
WSP investigated the crash and determined the driver fell asleep and overcorrected causing it to leave the roadway and roll.
Due to the quick actions of Deputy Ortiz and Deputy Maier to control the severe bleeding, coupled with the additional medical attention he received, the male is recovering from his injuries and was released from the hospital late last week