Man in Critical Condition After Arkansas River Rescue
By: Josh Berry
Updated: May 20, 2012
Search and rescue crews had a very busy day on the Arkansas River Sunday (5/20).
At one point, three different rescue attempts were underway, but only one of these attempts actually ended with someone being taken out of the water.
That victim, identified to as 29-year-old Eric John Blase is at UAMS in critical condition
.
Friends and witnesses found him first and pulled him out of the water, but said he was purple and not breathing.
"When we brought him back he was purple cause he had too much water in his lungs," said witness, Brandon Jones.
It happened out on a popular sand bar on the river, near Murray Park.
Friends said Blase had been drinking heavily, went out to take a dip in the water and when he went under, he never came back up.
It took at least 15 seconds for someone to realize he was missing. Three minutes later, someone in a group of nearly 20 people wading through the water, finally found him. Blase wasn't responding.
"Nothing. He was purple and blue, he was just out," said Chris Bratton.
Bratton is a close friend of Blase. Friends said Blase recently came back from serving duty in Iraq.
Bratton said, "Everybody kept saying somebody went down, but I didn't know exactly who, but then when I looked around and didn't see him, I knew who it was,"
Luckily Bratton is a medical assistant trained to give CPR.
"First thing I did was try and give him CPR and kept giving him chest compressions. As soon as I got him, he started spitting up a lot of blood."
According to Bratton, he was breathing on his own but not very much.
The Little Rock Fire Department, Search and Rescue crews were able to respond to the scene fairly quickly, having already been on another search and rescue scene not far down river.
Rescue crews continued to give CPR, but Blase never regained full consciousness at the scene. A crew took him to the shore where he was transported to UAMS.
While they want to stay optimistic, for friends, it's hard to stay hopeful after seeing their friend in that condition.
"As much blood as he was spitting out we just really don't know right now," said Bratton.
Friends Blase is lucky that he had a friend trained to give CPR, and that had Britton not been out there, they said Blase likely wouldn't have even made it to the hospital.
Earlier Sunday, two other searches were conducted on the Arkansas River, one for a woman near Rebsamen Park and another who a witness said may have jumped off the Broadway Bridge.
After searching for both people for several hours crews were called off of their search.
Without more information they will not resume the search Monday.
At one point, three different rescue attempts were underway, but only one of these attempts actually ended with someone being taken out of the water.
That victim, identified to as 29-year-old Eric John Blase is at UAMS in critical condition
.
Friends and witnesses found him first and pulled him out of the water, but said he was purple and not breathing.
"When we brought him back he was purple cause he had too much water in his lungs," said witness, Brandon Jones.
It happened out on a popular sand bar on the river, near Murray Park.
Friends said Blase had been drinking heavily, went out to take a dip in the water and when he went under, he never came back up.
It took at least 15 seconds for someone to realize he was missing. Three minutes later, someone in a group of nearly 20 people wading through the water, finally found him. Blase wasn't responding.
"Nothing. He was purple and blue, he was just out," said Chris Bratton.
Bratton is a close friend of Blase. Friends said Blase recently came back from serving duty in Iraq.
Bratton said, "Everybody kept saying somebody went down, but I didn't know exactly who, but then when I looked around and didn't see him, I knew who it was,"
Luckily Bratton is a medical assistant trained to give CPR.
"First thing I did was try and give him CPR and kept giving him chest compressions. As soon as I got him, he started spitting up a lot of blood."
According to Bratton, he was breathing on his own but not very much.
The Little Rock Fire Department, Search and Rescue crews were able to respond to the scene fairly quickly, having already been on another search and rescue scene not far down river.
Rescue crews continued to give CPR, but Blase never regained full consciousness at the scene. A crew took him to the shore where he was transported to UAMS.
While they want to stay optimistic, for friends, it's hard to stay hopeful after seeing their friend in that condition.
"As much blood as he was spitting out we just really don't know right now," said Bratton.
Friends Blase is lucky that he had a friend trained to give CPR, and that had Britton not been out there, they said Blase likely wouldn't have even made it to the hospital.
Earlier Sunday, two other searches were conducted on the Arkansas River, one for a woman near Rebsamen Park and another who a witness said may have jumped off the Broadway Bridge.
After searching for both people for several hours crews were called off of their search.
Without more information they will not resume the search Monday.
