NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

INCIDENTS

Gateway NRA

Critically Injured Jet Skier Airlifted From Park

Park dispatch received a routed 911 call from Monmouth County dispatch on the afternoon of May 16th reporting a severely injured jet skier on the north side of Sandy Hook along the Atlantic Ocean. Rangers were immediately dispatched. Sandy Hook Fire Rescue was conducting a monthly training session and also immediately responded with six firefighters and three emergency medical technicians. Rangers soon arrived on scene and located the victim along the shoreline between North Beach and the tip of Sandy Hook. The park fire chief and two other EMT's arrived and also made contact with the man, who was complaining of severe pelvic pain, abdominal pain, and numerous other medical issues. The victim had been running his jet ski when he was hit by a large wave and thrown from the craft, with the jet ski landing on top of him in the surf zone at the water's edge. He was assessed, packaged, and transported off the beach in a pickup driven by park natural resource staff. EMT's asked that a New Jersey State Police medevac air ambulance be dispatched to the scene due to the mechanism of his injury as well as his chief complaints and overall basic assessment. Sea Bright First Aid met the truck transporting the injured man from the beach. Sandy Hook fire personnel and rangers set up the helicopter landing zone and awaited the medevac landing. Sea Bright Fire Department also arrived to support the helicopter landing. The victim was turned over to the medevac flight nurses and flown to Jersey Shore Medical Center in Neptune, New Jersey. The park was able to have law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical units on scene within ten minutes of the initial call through the 911 system. [Tim Regan, Fire Chief, Sandy Hook Unit]

Gulf Islands NS

Two Suicides Discovered Within One Week

The bodies of two Pensacola men were found in the park earlier this month - one in the Naval Live Oaks Unit and the other in the Santa Rosa Area. Rangers were notified by dispatch of a man down on J. Earle Bowden Way west of Lot 10 in the Santa Rosa Area on the evening of May 10th. They responded along with deputies and found the body of a man about 30 yards from the shoreline, lying on his back with an apparent gunshot wound below his collar bone. A Glock firearm was near his right hand. The death has been ruled a suicide. Then, early on the morning of May 16th, a maintenance employee found the body of a man hanging from the rafters of the youth group pavilion at Naval Live Oaks. A suicide note was found at the scene. The victim was identified through the driver's license found in his possession. According to the note at the scene, he was homeless and had no living family members. [Dane Tantay, Florida District Ranger, and DeDe Mladucky, Chief Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS. To see the full text, including images, NPS employees should go to the InsideNPS home page ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index). Non-NPS employees can see most of them on the NPS Digest page ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/):

Gateway NRA - The "Golden Age of Aviation" returned to Gateway's Floyd Bennett Field on May 5th when the William Fitts Ryan Visitor Center reopened to the public. The visitor center is housed in the former air terminal for New York City's first municipal airport.

Glen Canyon NRA - On April 20th, the first Brent McGinn and Laurie Axelsen Scholarship was presented to Joseph Magers for being the “Best in Class” at the Northern Arizona University Seasonal Law Enforcement Training Program.

Outer Banks Group - Superintendent Mike Murray will be retiring on July 31st after 34 years with the National Park Service.

Big Cypress NP - Edward F. Clark, chief ranger at Big Cypress National Preserve, will be retire on May 31st following 22 years of service with the NPS.

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The Morning Report is a publication of the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, produced with the support of the Office of the Assistant Director for Information Resources and the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

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