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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT BLACKBERRY EDITION Tuesday, August 8, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Glacier NP Assault On Rangers And EMS Workers At approximately 2:15 am on August 1st, a ranger was dispatched to the Many Glacier Hotel to investigate a report of an injured person. Upon learning that the patient was going into shock, the ranger asked for additional assistance, including an ambulance. Two more rangers responded. A Glacier County paramedic ambulance that was staged for the Red Eagle fire was also sent. Rangers found a 25-year-old man who was apparently intoxicated and had been injured by a fall down some stairs. Since this type of accident made a c-spine fracture possible, efforts were made to immobilize the man on a backboard. He became combative, though, and jumped quickly up from the board, striking out with his arms while swinging his upper torso and head. Both rangers tried to restrain him and were struck while doing so. They were also splattered with blood after he hit his head on the wall, causing his laceration to again bleed profusely. He continued his combativeness while being secured to the board and hit the two paramedics, but neither rangers nor paramedics were injured. The third ranger at the scene provided crowd control, as there was a large group of intoxicated bystanders. The injured man was taken to a local hospital. During the ambulance transport, a chemical restraint had to be used on the man because of his continued combativeness. After his release from the hospital, he was arrested and taken to the Flathead County jail for processing. The man will be charged with two counts of misdemeanor assault against federal officers, two counts of misdemeanor assault against officers assisting federal officers in the performance of their duties, and public intoxication. [Jan Cauthorn-Page, Acting Chief Mountain Subdistrict Ranger] Grand Teton NP Rangers Respond To Numerous Weekend Incidents Between Friday, August 4th, and Saturday, August 6th, rangers and emergency personnel coordinated responses to a series of often overlapping incidents that challenged the park's abilities to provide effective responses: Friday 5:30 a.m. - A ranger responding to a report of an individual sleeping on the road found that the 25-year-old park resident was actually an intoxicated driver who had driven his vehicle off the road and down a 75-foot embankment that morning. 2:15 p.m. - Rangers and a park ambulance responded to a motorcycle accident just north of the park's south boundary and transported the operator and passenger to the Jackson hospital. 3:35 p.m. - Rangers and three park ambulances responded to a single vehicle rollover accident at the park's east boundary. The vehicle rolled over four times, resulting in injuries requiring that all three adults from Nebraska be transported to the Jackson hospital. 5:55 p.m. - A vehicle believed to have been used in an armed robbery was seen heading north from Jackson through the park. Several rangers responded, conducted a felony stop near Moran Junction, and detained the three occupants - all from Louisiana - until local officers arrived with a witness. All three were arrested. Saturday 2:30 a.m. - Rangers flew by contract helicopter to the site of a climbing incident on Symmetry Spire. A climbing guide had suffered multiple injuries in an 80-foot fall. The guide was subsequently short-hauled to a park ambulance and transported to the Jackson hospital. 4:25 p.m. - A two-vehicle collision at the Oxbow of the Snake River at resulted in a vehicle fire. Rangers, ambulances, and structural and wildland fire engines responded. A visitor assisted by extinguishing the fire prior to the arrival of park fire engines, but two adults from Holland and one juvenile from California had to be transported by ambulance to the Jackson hospital. 6:20 p.m. - Rangers and an ambulance responded to a report of a disoriented 25-year-old woman from Colorado in the Colter Bay campground. She was subsequently transported to the Jackson hospital for an evaluation. Sunday 4:30 a.m. - The woman from the above incident at Colter Bay flagged down a park ambulance. She again exhibited signs of disorientation and was again taken to the Jackson hospital for evaluation. 7:25 p.m. - A Jackson resident reported that his wife and sister-in-law from Dubai were stranded on the Snake River with boat problems. Based on information in the phone message that the woman had left for her husband, rangers were able to focus their hasty search on the river below Pacific Creek. The women were found shortly thereafter near the Deadman's launch ramp. [Andy Fisher, Chief Ranger; Patrick Hattaway, North District Ranger; Karen Frauson, South District Ranger] Indiana Dunes NL Eleven-Year-Old Girl Drowns In Lake A group of 11 local neighborhood children, ages 6 to 14, were dropped off by a parent at the Mount Baldy area of the park for an afternoon of swimming on July 29th. Mount Baldy, the tallest sand dune in the park, is fronted by a popular, unguarded, day use beach and was occupied by several hundred other visitors at the time. By all accounts, several of the unsupervised children were engaged in horseplay in the water on a sandbar approximately 40 to 60 feet from the beach. The water in the area is three- to four-feet deep and was flat calm. At some point, the 11-year-old victim, a non-swimmer, probably stepped off the sandbar into water that was five- to six-feet deep and drowned. It's not known how long it took before other children in the group noticed that she was missing and called for help. Numerous bystanders responded, formed a spontaneous line search, and quickly found her. They called for help and started resuscitation efforts. NPS rangers and a boat from the United States Coast Guard were on scene within five minutes of receipt of the 911 call. The girl was transported by the Coast Guard to Michigan City and taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The National Park Service and officers from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources are jointly investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident. [Mike Bremer, Chief Ranger] De Soto NM Defendant Sentenced For Destruction Of Wayside Exhibit On July 17th, a woman was found guilty of reckless driving in a 2005 incident that caused $17,000 in damage to a park exhibit. M.M. was found guilty of driving her vehicle through the closed park entrance gate, then traveling another 200 yards across the park mall/parking area before crashing into and destroying a concrete wayside exhibit located adjacent to the shoreline of Tampa Bay. The impact caused the vehicle to overturn, coming to rest approximately 20 feet from the water's edge. M.M. was sentenced to six months probation, 25 hours of public service work, and a fine of $250. As a condition of her probation, she was also ordered to pay restitution of $17,000 to the park for replacement of the exhibit. [Cliff Kevill, Chief Ranger] OTHER NEWS Other news of interest from today's edition of InsideNPS, which can be found at this address if your inside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/) and at this address if you're outside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/). Note that not all articles that appear in the former make it into the latter: Chief Information Officer - Previews are now available of the newly designed park web sites. Valley Forge NHP - The park is now offering guided tours via cell phones. Rocky Mountain NP - The park has just dedicated memorials to two fallen rangers. * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |