Spokane deputy helps save man’s life while on vacation in Hawaii

Not everyone likes to work on vacation, but Spokane County sheriff’s Deputy Darin Powers said he was “very lucky” to help save a man’s life on Easter Sunday.

Powers, 47, was checking in to the Noelani Condominium Resort in Maui with his wife and two of his children at about 3 p.m. when somebody ran into the lobby.

“Somebody screamed and said somebody needed help at the pool and had drowned. I just ran down,” he said. “He had been down there for a while. He was cyanotic. He was blue. No pulse. Wasn’t breathing. He was dead.”

Powers and a doctor from Seattle who also happened to be staying at the resort began first aid at the poolside: She performed chest compressions while he managed the man’s airway.

Minutes went by. Powers said he has performed CPR more than 20 times before and has had only one person survive. Still, he and the doctor kept on, and he estimated they performed 120 chest compressions before the man began breathing again.

“He vomited several times. Once I was able to get his airway clear, he had swallowed his tongue. So I had to clear that,” Powers said. “We got a pulse. We got him back and he started talking.”

Powers said emergency responders kept him on airway management before flying the man, who was in his 50s, to Maui Memorial Medical Center, where he was put in a medically induced coma for two days. He has since been released and is expected to make a full recovery.

Powers said he never found out why the incident occurred. The man appeared to be in good physical health, and there were no signs of trauma. The man’s wife told Powers they were snorkeling earlier in the day, and the man was tired when he went down to the pool for a quick dunk.

Regardless, Powers, who is from Hawaii and was visiting family, said he was happy he was at the resort when he was.

“Right place, right time. I was glad I was there. God wanted this guy to live on Easter,” he said. “I really felt lucky that God used me in that way.”

Powers credits the Sheriff’s Office for keeping his emergency responder skills sharp with annual training, but he said he was simply doing what he knows how to do.

“Any cop or any first responder, it doesn’t matter where you are, if somebody needs help, you’re going to do it,” he said. “It was a good day.”