Doug Fisher, a 36-year-old homicide police detective from Tempe, Ariz., drowned Monday morning about a quarter mile off the beach in the Prince Kuhio Terrace area of Po’ipu. According to Kaua’i County Fire Department battalion chief Bob Kaden, the vacationing
Doug Fisher, a 36-year-old homicide police detective from Tempe, Ariz., drowned Monday morning about a quarter mile off the beach in the Prince Kuhio Terrace area of Po’ipu.
According to Kaua’i County Fire Department battalion chief Bob Kaden, the vacationing victim was diving with a tour group and went off by himself.
Kaden said Fisher was last seen about 10:30 a.m. with a partially inflated buoyancy device.
He was found in about 90 feet of water by the tour dive instructor and brought to the Kukui’ula Harbor at 11:15. Kaden said the victim had been underwater for about 30 minutes and was already dead when brought to the surface. Four to six minutes is the average time an adult can survive without oxygen.
The Coast Guard, firefighters and lifeguards all responded to the scene.
The man’s wife, staying at Embassy Resorts, was informed of the death by police. Hospice officials were called for support.
The Arizona policeman is the second confirmed drowning victim this year in the water around Kaua’i. A male visitor from Austria drowned Feb. 16 at Queen’s Pond near Barking Sands. A third visitor, a woman from the U.S. mainland, has been missing since going snorkeling Feb. 7 at Anini Beach and is presumed dead.
Yet another visitor was pulled from the ocean off Po’ipu in January and later died. Her death was attributed by authorities to a heart problem.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net
