NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

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INCIDENTS

Badlands NP

Two Rangers Injured In Assault, Three Arrested

On October 1st, ranger Chad Coles came upon a Dodge van parked in the Doors and Windows parking lot. Since the van was not displaying any registration, Coles contacted the driver, R.L.W.M. While talking to him, Coles noted that the van was occupied by the driver, two passengers and four dogs, including three pit bulls. During his investigation, Coles learned that R.L.W.M. had an active warrant out for his arrest. Meanwhile, one of the other occupants of the van took out a digital recorder and began filming Coles. All of them began yelling at Coles, telling him that he had no authority or jurisdiction and that they were not accountable to the laws of the United States. Coles returned to his cruiser and requested assistance. When rangers and South Dakota Highway Patrol officers arrived, R.L.W.M. was taken into custody without incident. As rangers returned to the van to speak with the passengers, the pit bulls became excited, barking and growling menacingly. One of the passengers warned the rangers that the dogs were not friendly. A routine computer check on the front passenger - R.T.W.M. - revealed that he, too, had outstanding warrants against him. He was asked to step out of the van and was also arrested without incident. The second passenger - P.W.M. - appeared extremely nervous when rangers asked him to leash the dogs and get out of the vehicle. He suddenly jumped into the driver's seat and started the engine, but it quit as he was trying to get it into gear. Rangers told him that he was under arrest and ordered him out of the van. He instead started it up again and was about to drive away when a highway patrol officer jumped in through the open front passenger door and turned the engine off. P.W.M. then returned to the main passenger compartment of the van and put leashes on the dogs. When he opened the sliding door, the dogs were pulling on their leashes. P.W.M. then opened his hands and dropped the leashes and the pit bulls jumped out. One of them immediately attacked ranger Vincent Littlewhiteman. P.W.M. grabbed a black bag and ran out of the vehicle towards the badland formations to the east. With one of the pit bulls, he jumped down a 10 to 15-foot cliff and climbed into the rugged crevasses below. When Coles pursued, another pit bull attacked him, causing Coles to fall to the ground due to the savagery of the attack. Coles got to his feet and fired two rounds at the dog when it attacked again. Indications were that P.W.M. had a handgun with him, so additional rangers and officers were brought in from Mount Rushmore, the South Dakota Highway Patrol, and the Oglala Tribal Police. While a tactical team was assembled, a hasty search was conducted from a South Dakota Highway Patrol helicopter. The tactical team then repelled into the ravines and crevasses east of the parking lot and began searching for P.W.M. They almost immediately recovered about a half kilo of marijuana, and found P.W.M. after a search of nearly three hours duration. He was found just outside the park, walking southeast toward the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, by tribal officers. He was taken into custody without incident. Narcotics and a .38 caliber handgun were recovered in a search incident to the arrest. Coles and Littlewhiteman, who suffered only minor injuries, were treated by Kadoka Ambulance medical personnel and released. All three of the W.M.s were taken to the Pennington County jail and are to be charged federally for narcotics and weapons violations and for assaulting federal law enforcement officers. [Mark Gorman, Chief Ranger]

Natchez Trace Parkway

Pursuit Culminates In DUI Arrest

Ranger Rachel Davidson was southbound on the parkway near milepost 203 around 4 p.m. on September 26th when she observed a car traveling in the opposite direction at a high rate of speed - her radar had it clocked at 106 mph. Davidson attempted to stop the car, which was driven by C.M., 40, of Marietta, Mississippi, but he declined to pull over. Davidson pursed until C.M. left the parkway and entered the town of Mathiston, then broke off the chase. She continued to follow More, though, attempting to keep him in sight as county units converged on him. C.M. subsequently lost control of his car and hit a tree. Davidson took him into custody and drove him to the Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo for observation. Alcohol and drugs were determined to have been contributing factors - C.M. admitted to consuming six beers and numerous prescription medications prior to the incident. The park and Webster County have filed numerous charges against him. [Allen Etheridge, Chief Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories (among others) can be read on either the InsideNPS web site (if you are within the National Park Service) or at the InsideNPS public ‘news digest' site (if you are outside of the NPS). The web sites are, respectively, HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/ and ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/).

* African Burial Ground NM - On Friday, October 5th, a memorial was dedicated at African Burial Ground National Monument in Lower Manhattan, one of the Service's newest areas. The permanent memorial, constructed to honor the memories of the free and enslaved Africans buried at the original seven-acre site in the 17th and 18th centuries, was opened to the public for the first time following a dedication ceremony.

* Fire and Aviation Management - The 2007 Communicator's Guide for Wildland Fire Management: Fire Education, Prevention and Mitigation Practices has been released by the NWCG's Wildland Fire Education Working Team.

* Civil War Sites - Civil War superintendents from the Northeast Region and the National Capital Region met on September 24th and September 25th at the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, Virginia, to continue crafting an action plan for the commemoration of the upcoming 150th anniversary of the Civil War, which will take place between 2011 and 2015.

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Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of the Chief Information Officer and Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov, 570-686-3828).

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