Two Fall River cops saved a man's life while on a ski vacation. He thanked them in person.
FALL RIVER — It was the last run of the day on Jan. 28 at Okemo Mountain Resort in Vermont for off-duty Fall River police officers Guy Furtado and Garrett Nelson as they made their way down a black diamond trail to meet friends at the lodge.
Little did the officers know they would be the right people, at the right place, and at the right time to help save the life of a 20-year-old Connecticut man.
Nor did they anticipate the young man and his father would travel to Fall River this week to thank them in person.
“It was a great day. Conditions were perfect,” said Furtado, a 10-year veteran of the Fall River Police Department.
Fall River officers go into action to save a life
Furtado said he and Nelson decided to ski a run that they hadn’t been on that day to get off the mountain.
“Then we came upon a guy yelling for help,” said Furtado.
The person in distress was 45-year-old William Polzun Jr. of Manchester, Connecticut. His son, Nathan Polzun, had collapsed while the pair were making their last run of the day.
The officers said a few skiers had passed by the frantic Polzun.
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“We skied over and stopped. He told us what happened. He wasn’t responding that he took a tumble,” said Furtado.
At first Furtado and Nelson thought Nathan had knocked himself out, but discovered he wasn’t breathing nor had a pulse. His father told the Fall River officers that Nathan had a heart condition.
Nelson got on his cell phone and called 911 and worked on getting the mountain rescue team to Nathan’s location.
Furtado started doing chest compressions, while directing Polzun on giving Nathan breaths.
“I didn’t really know the trail that we were on, and it was taking a little while to figure out where the ping was coming from, so I was giving them the pertinent information,” said Nelson, who has been a member the FRPD for three years after serving on other law enforcement agencies.
The mountain rescue crew arrived about 10 minutes later to find a still unrevived Nathan.
Furtado said they “gave him several shots from the [automated external defibrillator], and then they took him down.”
Fall River police officers commend mountain rescuers
“They did an incredible job,” said Nelson. “I’ve never seen anyone do that on the side of a mountain. It was impressive. They put him on a sled, there are two people standing on the right and the left steering the sled, and then a paramedic on top of him doing compressions the whole way down.”
That was the last time they saw Nathan on the mountain.
But as fate would have it, in a rescue that already had its fair share of fate, a Fall River EMT who was on the ski trip happened to have a friend whose daughter is a member of the mountain rescue team.
They learned that Nelson was taken away by medical helicopter.
And it was how the Polzuns were able to find Furtado and Nelson.
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Officers: Rescues happen every day in Fall River
Furtado and Nelson laughed when asked if handling a ski mountain rescue was ever part of their curriculum at the police academy.
“It’s the same thing, really,” said Furtado. “I mean, this is probably going to happen before the end of my shift tonight, somewhere in the city. This happens every day all over the country, the police officers perform CPR,” said Furtado. “It just goes unnoticed because it just part of the daily.”
“It’s routine,” said Nelson.
Man whose life was saved reunites with Fall River officers
But for the connection with the mountain rescue crew, the police officers and the Polzuns never would have met, since at the time they only identified themselves to Nathan’s father as first-responders.
On Monday, Nathan and his dad traveled to Fall River to meet with Furtado and Nelson at police headquarters.
Polzun did not return a request for comment, but the Fall River Police Department's Facebook page posted photos of the reunion.
According to the post, Nathan had no recollection of his medical emergency nor the rescue, but credited the officers for saving his life, as did his father.
“Both men say that Nathan is on the road to recovery, and they hope to share the slopes with Officers Furtado and Nelson next year once Nathan receives medical clearance,” according to the department’s Facebook page.
“It was awesome, because you do it in the city all the time and you don’t always see it come full circle,” said Nelson. “I was happy to meet them because they are really good people. I didn’t really know what to say. All I could say was that I was happy to be there.”
Furtado agreed.
“The stars aligned,” said Furtado.
Police chief: Officers' heroics are no surprise
“I’m certainly proud, but not surprised,” said Fall River Police Chief Paul Gauvin. “This isn’t the first time, singly or collectively, these two officers' names have come to my attention.”
The chief said just generally he’s not surprised that the department’s officers have provided lifesaving CPR. Gauvin said during December’s award banquet for FRPD officers, 16 city police officers were honored with the Lifesaving Awards.
In 2022, according to Gauvin, Furtado was recognized by a family member for visiting a blind, bedridden 91-year-old city woman who lived alone. Unbeknownst to the department, after Furtado received a call by the woman, she apologized for wasting the police officer’s time. Furtado visited the housebound elderly woman for a year, checking on her well-being and to chat, before her passing.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River cops save man's life on ski trip; gives thanks at reunion
