Puna officer honored for saving woman’s life

The quick thinking of a Puna police officer that saved a woman’s life was recently honored by the Aloha Exchange Club of East Hawai‘i.

Hawai‘i Police Department Officer Dallas Arce was named the club’s Officer of the Month for July during a ceremony Oct. 27 in Hilo. Arce joined the department two years ago.

During the early morning hours of June 27, Arce conducted a welfare check on a woman who reportedly overdosed on prescription medication. Arriving on scene before other first responders, Arce and his beat partner found the unresponsive woman with prescription pills gathered together within her arm’s reach. Officers ascertained that the woman was involved in an earlier domestic dispute, during which she left the residence yelling that she wanted to kill herself.

Remembering his Naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, training, Arce ran to his patrol vehicle and obtained two doses of the lifesaving spray. Knowing that time was of the essence, he deployed both doses into the woman’s nose resulting in her immediately starting to breathe and cough.

As the Narcan’s effects continued to help the woman, Hawai‘i Fire Department medical personnel were able to stabilize her condition and transport her to Hilo Medical Center for treatment.

The Aloha Exchange Club of East Hawai‘i each month honors a police officer in East Hawai‘i as its Officer of the Month. Officers are nominated by their supervisors from the police districts in Area I, including Hāmākua, North Hilo, South Hilo and Puna, and a winner is selected. All officers selected as Officer of the Month are eligible to be picked as the club’s Officer of the Year.

Pictured: James Sanborn of the Aloha Exchange Club of East Hawai‘i and Officer Dallas Arce.