By James Gilbert
The Sun (Yuma, Arizona)
PHOENIX — The Yuma Fire Department captain injured last month in a swift water training accident has been released from a Phoenix hospital, where he was being treated for his injuries.
Yuma Fire Department spokesman Mike Erfert said Capt. Gene Tutell is continuing his recovery at home now and is receiving regular physical and occupational therapy locally, and occasionally traveling back to Phoenix for additional therapy sessions.
Tutell, who was injured in the Aug. 17 training exercise, was released from St. Joseph’s Hospital on Friday.
“He is continuing his progress and is taking it day by day,” Erfert said. “There is no projection on when he will return to duty.”
The Yuma County Sheriff’s Office investigated the accident and said Tutell sustained lacerations to his face and head, seven broken ribs and possible head injuries after being ejected from a personal watercraft being used in the training.
An investigation concluded that Tutell was riding on a skid being pulled behind a personal watercraft at about 11 a.m. when it struck some tules along the bank of the Colorado River about two miles west of the West Wetlands Park.
The skid is an apparatus used to transport injured patients and tules are plants with tall stems and grasslike leaves that grow along the shore of the Colorado River.
Two people riding on the personal watercraft — firefighter/EMT Jordan Bowers and dispatcher Heather Monreal — were thrown from the watercraft following the collision.
According to the sheriff’s office investigation, Bowers was driving the personal watercraft at the time of the accident and Monreal was riding behind him as a passenger.
Monreal was participating in the training as a part of orientation to fire department operations. The personal watercraft was traveling about 30 mph when the accident occurred.
Tutell suffered his injuries when he struck the handlebars of the personal watercraft, according to the sheriff’s office investigation.
Bowers complained of leg pains following the accident and Monreal complained of back pains.
All three were transported to Yuma Regional Medical Center by Rural/Metro ambulance for evaluation of those injuries.
Tutell was later transferred to St. Joseph’s, while Bowers and Monreal were treated and released.
Copyright 2008, The Sun (Yuma, Arizona)