HUNTINGTON BEACH : Boat Crash Injuries Fatal to Paramedic
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A Fire Department paramedic died Sunday night of injuries he suffered two days earlier in a boating accident on the Colorado River in Arizona, officials said Monday.
The paramedic, Gary Swallows, 47, was critically hurt Friday when his boat collided with another craft near Parker, Ariz., Huntington Beach Fire Chief Michael Dolder said. Swallows’ wife, Rhonda, and daughter, Kerry, were also on the boat at the time of the collision but escaped serious injury.
Swallows, who also served in the department as a fire engineer, reportedly was able to diagnose his own injuries, telling others that he had a broken arm and a punctured lung, Dolder said.
Swallows reportedly was conscious and coherent in the ambulance on his way to a hospital in Phoenix, Dolder said. In addition to the arm and lung injuries, he also had broken ribs, liver and kidney damage and internal bleeding.
Swallows joined the Huntington Beach Fire Department in July, 1971. He was promoted to paramedic in 1976 and to engineer/paramedic in 1990. He was a veteran of the Marine Corps.
City officials have authorized city flags to fly at half-staff in his memory.
In addition to his wife and daughter, Swallows is also survived by a son, Erric.
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