Cuyahoga Valley National Park (OH)
Man Hit, Killed By Train
On the evening of November 24th, an interpretive ranger contacted
park dispatch and reported that the southbound Cuyahoga Valley Scenic
Railroad had struck a pedestrian and that six Akron PD officers were
already on-scene, investigating the accident. Rangers Mike Fuller and
Richard Vasquez responded to assist and learned what had happened. The
train was headed south at seven or eight miles an hour around 6 p.m.
when the brakeman saw two dogs running very close to and on the tracks
in front of the train. As the dogs continued down the middle of the
tracks in front of the engine, he saw a man appear to dive in front of
the train. The engineer slowed the train and came to a full stop about
400 yards south of the point of impact. The conductor checked the
tracks, found the body of 46-year-old D.T., and called 911.
Willie Lewis, one of D.T.'s friends, arrived on scene shortly
thereafter. Lewis said that he'd picked up D.T. from work that
afternoon and brought him to his house. D.T. then took Lewis' dogs
out for a walk. When one of the dogs returned home barking, Lewis went
looking for him. Lewis had been friends with D.T. for twenty years
and reported that he suffered from manic depression. On the evening of
this accident, D.T. told Lewis that he was "feeling spacey" and took
medication. At the time of the accident, there were 29 staff and
volunteers from the railroad and NPS on board the train en route to a
depot in Akron to pick up children for a holiday program. The program
was cancelled for the evening.
[Submitted by Mosie Welch, Acting
Field Operations Supervisor]
New River Gorge National River (WV)
Probable Suicide
Fayette County deputies and rangers were notified of a suspicious
vehicle on the New River Gorge Bridge around midnight on November 19th.
The officers found a car on the bridge with the keys in the ignition and
personal belongings, including a purse, left on the front seat. They
made a hasty search of the area, them employed a thermal imaging unit to
scan the gorge. A heat source was identified about 400 feet below the
bridge. On the following morning, personnel from the Fayetteville
High-Angle Rescue Team, the Fayetteville Volunteer Fire Department,
Fayette Count Sheriff's Office and the National Park Service located and
recovered the body of a woman below the bridge. Identification found in
the vehicle revealed that she was a 32-year-old graduate student from
West Virginia University in Morgantown. No suicide note was found, but
investigators did find a road map of West Virginia which had a route
highlighted from her hometown to the vicinity of the New River Gorge,
where it stopped. The body has been turned over to the county medical
examiner. Rangers are assisting the Fayette County Sheriff's Office with
the follow-up investigation.
[Submitted by Gary Hartley, Chief
Ranger]
Blue Ridge Parkway
Fatal Auto Accident
A car driven by E.T., 22, of Vinton, Virginia, went off the
road and down an embankment near milepost 113 at 3:30 a.m. on November
20th. E.T. was ejected from the vehicle and found underneath it.
Indications are that alcohol may have been a contributing factor. Steve
Buxton is the case ranger.
[Submitted by John Garrison, Acting Chief
Ranger]
PARKS AND PEOPLE
Canyonlands National Park (UT)
Ranger Steve Swanke Cited for Rescue of Aron Ralston
On November 6th, Aron Ralston, the subject of a search and rescue operation after a canyoneering accident near the park earlier this year, was the keynote speaker at a conference on pain management sponsored by Timpanogos Regional Hospital. Ralston gained national attention last April when he freed himself by amputating his own arm after being pinned by a boulder in a narrow canyon for five days. The speech and accompanying awards ceremony was attended by 1,600 people. Ralston presented personal appreciation awards to unified incident commanders Steve Swanke, a ranger at Canyonlands, and Kyle Ekker, an officer in the Emery County SO. Ralston also donated $12,000 to help defray the cost of the operation to rescue him to SAR agencies in southeast Utah. Awards of merit were presented to Swanke and several others for their untiring efforts to rescue Ralston.
[Submitted by Peter Fitzmaurice, Chief Ranger]
Submission standards for the Morning Report can be found on the left side of the front page of InsideNPS. All reports should be submitted via email to Bill Halainen at Delaware Water Gap NRA, with a copy to your regional office and a copy to Dennis Burnett in Division of Law Enforcement and Emergency Services, WASO.
Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement and Emergency Services, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.