The Spokane County Sheriff's Office says two deputies are being credited for saving a juvenile passenger's life after a rollover crash on Interstate 90 last week.
On July 30, at about 3:20 in the morning, Spokane 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 learned that one person was trapped in the vehicle and losing blood from his arm.
Deputy Skye Ortiz arrived first at the scene and began to assess the condition of the injured passenger. The young man was still in the back seat area of the overturned vehicle. He was holding a blood-soaked towel on his arm and appeared to be fading in and out of consciousness. Deputy Ortiz got into the vehicle and saw a large amount of arterial blood coming from a wound on the victim's arm. Deputy Roman Maier arrived on scene and handed Deputy Ortiz a tourniquet to help stop the bleeding. After it was applied the bleeding slowed, but did not stop. A second tourniquet was applied and the bleeding stopped.
Fire crews, medics, and WSP troopers also arrived on scene to help.
A Life Flight helicopter airlifted the passenger to a nearby hospital due to the seriousness of his injuries. The three other juveniles in the car were taken to the hospital by ambulance.
WSP investigated the crash and determined the driver fell asleep and overcorrected causing the vehicle to leave the road and roll.
Due to the quick actions of the deputies, the injured passenger is recovering from his injuries and was released from the hospital late last week.
This isn't the first time Deputy Ortiz made headlines recently. During a high-speed chase last week, Deputy Ortiz jumped into his patrol car's trunk to avoid being run over after he attempted to put down spike strips to stop the driver.
(story: Matt Pusatory, KHQ Local News Web Producer, KHQ.com; image: KHQ.com)