Deputy Courtney Erny

Three Lee County sheriff’s deputies working in Lehigh Acres have been credited for saving the life of a Lehigh man following an incident in March when they were called to a home where a man was not breathing and was unconscious.

The three – Deputy Courtney Erny, Deputy Robert Elwell, and Deputy Darren Heller, were given plaques of appreciation from the Greater Lehigh Acres Chamber of Commerce for their heroic work in their line of duty.

Capt. John Haberman, the commander at the Bravo District of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office on Homestead Road in Lehigh, said that on Tuesday, March 19 shortly before 2 a.m., Deputy Cortney Erny was dispatched to a 911 medical emergency call at an address on 56th Street West in Lehigh The call noted that there was a man who was not breathing and was unconscious.

Haberman said upon arrival, Erny along with K9 Deputy Robert Elwell located the man unconscious on the bedroom floor of the house.

Erny and Elwell were unable to locate a pulse and immediately started a chest compression and rescue breathing technique. Both Deputy Erny and Deputy Elwell continued CPR for some seven minutes until Deputy Darren Heller arrived on the scene to assist, Haberman said.

Deputy Robert Elwell

Erny and Heller continued CPR while Deputy Elwell was able to quickly retrieve his AED from his patrol vehicle.

“Deputies connected the AED and safely administered two shocks, while also continuing CPR for another 15 minutes before emergency medical personnel from the Lehigh Acres Fire and Rescue District arrived on the scene

EMS took control of the medical situation and they were able to get a pulse.

The man, identified as Antwion Hutchins, 35, was taken to Lehigh Regional Medical Center where deputies were told that the man’s pulse was stable and that the man who had been unconscious was able to breathe on his own.

“For their prompt response, quick action and training, Deputies Erny, Elwell and Heller most certainly saved the life of this man,” Haberman said.

Deputy Darren Heller

MEL TOADVINE Capt. John Haberman, left, who commands the Bravo District of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office in Lehigh Acres, is shown with three deputies who saved the life of a Lehigh man who was not breathing. They are from left, after Haberman, Deputy Cortney Erny, Deputy Darren Heller, and Deputy Robert Elwell.