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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT BLACKBERRY EDITION Friday, May 12, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Great Smoky Mountains NP Motorcycle Accident with Two Fatalities A 68-year-old Mississippi man was heading down a park road on his Honda Goldwing three-wheel motorcycle on the morning of May 9th when he lost control of the bike, went off the road, and hit a tree head-on. Both he and his 59-year-old male passenger sustained fatal injuries. Eyewitnesses to the accident told investigating rangers that the motorcycle had rounded a curve and appeared to just drift off the roadway into the tree. One eyewitness also reported that the passenger was reaching around the operator, trying to gain control of the motorcycle when it ran off the road. A passing motorist immediately called 911 on his cell phone to report the accident and the first rangers were on scene within less than 15 minutes. They found that the operator had suffered massive head injuries and had evidently been killed instantly; his helmet had apparently come off upon impact. The passenger had extensive head, face and chest injuries and was pinned under the motorcycle and its trailer. After disconnecting the latter, three rangers were able to lift the motorcycle off him while Rural Metro paramedics pulled him out from under the bike. He was taken to a local hospital for emergency treatment, then transferred by air ambulance to the University of Tennessee Trauma Center, where he died of his injuries in the early hours of the following morning. [Rick Brown, Assistant Chief Ranger] Hot Springs NP Taser Employed in Arrest At 7:45 a.m. on Sunday, May 7th, a ranger on patrol came upon three men attempting to enter a small two-seater sports car on Bull Bayou Road within the park. The ranger contacted them and obtained identification. When the ranger told one of the men that he was under arrest on a misdemeanor warrant, the man fled into nearby woods. The ranger chased him for about a quarter mile down a wooded trail and through a creek. When the man attempted to hide in thick brush, the ranger told him to stop and lie on the ground. He declined to do so and turned to resume his flight. The ranger therefore employed his taser, striking the man in his back and leg and incapacitating him. The man was taken into custody without further incident, charged with fleeing to elude the ranger, and booked on misdemeanor and felony warrants. [Dennis Stock, Chief Ranger] Colonial NHP Fatal Accident at Jones Mill Pond A fatal, single-car accident occurred on Colonial Parkway yesterday morning near Jones Mill Pond, about nine miles west of Yorktown. The parkway was closed for about two hours between Route 199/Cheatham Annex and Queen's Lake while rangers, York County deputies, and York County fire and life safety personnel investigated the accident scene and recovered the vehicle and body from the pond. The cause of the accident is under investigation. [Mike Litterst, Public Affairs Specialist] OTHER NEWS Director's memorandum on safety stand-down: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=4443" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=4443 Director's memorandum on remembering employees who died in the line of duty, and on the new manual on dealing with line of duty deaths: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=4448" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=4448 Weekly listing of upcoming training courses: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=vieweventscalendararticle&type=Conferences&id=775" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=vieweventscalendararticle&type=Conferences&id=775 * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |