NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

BLACKBERRY EDITION

Thursday, April 20, 2006

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INCIDENTS

Badlands NP

Pedestrian Hit By Car, Life Saved

On April 12th, rangers were notified of a vehicle/pedestrian accident at the Yellow Mounds Overlook. Responding personnel determined that a pedestrian had been run over by a motor vehicle and was trapped beneath the vehicle. She was freed and basic life support was begun. A life flight was requested because she kept drifting in and out of consciousness. Air transport was expedited through the use of prearranged landing sites coordinated between the park and life flight. The woman was airlifted and taken to the Rapid City Regional Hospital, where she was treated for head, neck, spine and leg injuries. Investigators determined that she had stepped out of her vehicle to take several photographs when she noticed that the vehicle was starting to roll. In an attempt to stop the moving vehicle, she reached through the open door to grab the gear shift lever, but was caught by the door and pulled beneath the vehicle. It then came to rest after striking a raised curb, trapping her underneath. [Mark Gorman, Chief Ranger]

Natchez Trace Parkway

Rangers Thwart Two Attempted Suicides

Rangers in the Leipers Fork District received a report of a person threatening to jump from the Highway 96 double arch bridge near Franklin, Tennessee, on April 7th. Rangers and Williamson County officers soon arrived on scene and found a despondent 42-year-old woman in her vehicle, with many prescription drugs at hand. She was talked out of harming herself and was taken by ambulance to a local psychiatric clinic for care. On April 19th, Williams County officers, assisted by rangers from the Leipers Fork District, successfully intervened in an attempted suicide from the same bridge. A 35-year-old man from Franklin, Tennessee, was found straddling the bridge railing. A lengthy negotiation and crisis intervention effort followed, resulting in the man being taken into custody and brought to a local psychiatric center for evaluation and treatment. The Highway 96 bridge is 1,655 feet long and 160 feet high. [Charles Cuvelier, Chief Ranger]

Blue Ridge Parkway

Drug Arrest

A ranger from the Plateau District was conducting traffic enforcement and drug interdiction investigations with a ranger trainee on the afternoon of April 7th. They stopped a car for a speeding offense, but the driver took off and attempted to elude them. He was eventually stopped on the parkway. The trainee interviewed the man and found inconsistencies in his story that were sufficient to establish enough reasonable suspicion to warrant a request for a consent search of the vehicle. During this consent search, the trainee noted a strong odor of marijuana emanating from both the passenger compartment and the car's trunk. The rangers found $4,000 in a concealed compartment in the trunk and another $2,787 in the driver's pants pocket. A bag was also found containing about two ounces of marijuana. The man was charged with simple possession and possession with intent to distribute under 21 USC. A search warrant was subsequently obtained for the data on his cellular phone. [Jon Murphy]

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Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.

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