Perry: ‘I stopped breathing twice’

LIHUE — Former Kauai Police Chief Darryl Perry is seeing double.

Perry was hit by a car while riding his bicycle through an intersection on the Big Island in January. His scapula was fractured. His clavicle was broken. His sternum was crushed along with almost all the ribs on his left side. His lungs collapsed as doctors in the emergency room fought to keep him alive.

“I stopped breathing twice,” Perry said.

But the worst part, according to Perry, is that he still can’t see straight.

“I constantly see things in double vision,” he said. “It’s very disconcerting.”

The 68-year-old retired KPD chief talked about the accident and his recuperation over the phone from his home in Hilo last week and said his rehabilitation, which he described as “one of the toughest things I’ve ever been through in my life,” is going well, all things considered.

“Don’t feel sorry,” he said. “I’ll be fine. It’ll just take months and months to recover.”

Perry had been riding his time trial bike for the past several months to prepare for the upcoming racing season. He said he had lost 25 pounds and was in the best shape he had been in since retiring from the KPD last August.

“I was doing really well,” Perry said.

He doesn’t remember anything about the accident. In fact, his mind blanked out most of the day, beginning hours before the crash.

“I don’t even remember getting ready for training,” he said, explaining that his memory loss and vision problems may both be the result of brain trauma he sustained in the crash.

“When I looked at my helmet, it was crushed on the left side,” he said.

As a result, all the information Perry has about his accident was pieced together from a police report and from what doctors told him after he regained consciousness.

About 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 31, Perry was riding his bike on Highway 11 when he was broadsided at an intersection in Keaau, according to a news release issued by Queens Medical Center on Oahu, where Perry was flown for emergency medical treatment. Perry said he was told he was heading mauka through an intersection when the accident occurred.

“This car T-boned me,” he said. “I was going straight, and he turned right into me.”

Perry said the driver of the vehicle was apparently at fault.

“He violated my right of way,” he said.

Still, Perry was grateful the person at least stayed at the scene and waited for police and paramedics to show up.

“Thank goodness he stopped,” Perry said.

When asked whether he intends to attempt to recoup some of his rather considerable medical expenses, Perry said simply, “We’ll see how that goes. At this point I’m just trying to get better.”

The former police chief is focusing on the present and working to regain his mobility. He said he can walk around as long as he’s careful and plans to start physical therapy this week.

From now on, Perry intends to stick to training on the stationary bike in his house and told his wife, “I am never gonna ride on the road again.”

“For now, I’m just trying to regain my strength,” he said. “I’m just thankful to be given a second chance.”