Posted on 07/14/2010 1:44:26 PM PDT by MissTed
District Attorney Mark Hurlbert will not prosecute two rafting guides accused of interfering with the rescue of a 13-year-old girl on Clear Creek last month.
Clear Creek County sheriff's deputies arrested guides Ryan Snodgrass, 28, and Justin Lariscy, 30, on charges of interfering with a government operation after the pair initiated a rescue for a Texas girl who fell from their company's raft June 10 on Clear Creek.
Snodgrass swam to the girl, who had traveled a half-mile through swollen rapids and pulled herself to shore.
Sheriff's officials said the pair ignored orders to stay out of the water and let volunteer search-and-rescue workers handle the matter.
Lariscy, in a letter describing the events of the day, said the pair saw "no plan of action or organization of the volunteers."
Hurlbert said Snodgrass and Lariscy wrote "very good letters of apology" to the sheriff, prompting his decision.
"Once we let cooler heads prevail, both the sheriff and the raft guides and the rafting company, they realized things could have gone differently and charging a person was not going to be the correct solution," said Hurlbert, district attorney for Colorado's 5th Judicial District.
Since the incident, the sheriff and the guides' company, Arkansas Valley Adventures, have been working on a procedure that would keep everyone involved safe, Hurlbert said.
"My hope is that Search and Rescue and the rafting company will work together," Hurlbert said. "Ultimately, the safety of the person in the water is the No. 1 thing."
Arkansas Valley Adventures owner Duke Bradford said he was relieved that his employees would not face criminal charges.
She pulled herself to shore or Snodgrass helped?? Either way, glad he's not going to be charged.
I agree with you.
But I am waiting for the hardcore “they broke the law so they should pay” people to show up here.
Why aren’t they considered “volunteer search and rescue” people by the police?
Strange.
Lariscy, in a letter describing the events of the day, said the pair saw "no plan of action or organization of the volunteers."
Any bets on whether the "volunteer" search-and-rescue workers are in a union and get paid?
I will bet dollars to doughnut holes that they are and do.
Something very screwy here.
Girl falls from raft - owner of raft goes in after her.
Some deputy was standing right there at the time and said "Don't you go in after her"??
Just the charges of interfering with a government operation part is bad enough...
I knew a 2nd LT that could do that just by standing and breathing.
He got promoted, not charged.
/johnny
Maybe he jumped in to swim to her but she got herself to shore before he got to her??? Sloppy reporting.
What’s the background on this? It seems the whole incident was over with in a matter of a few minutes, so why was there a government search and rescue already set up??? If there was a flood situation where rescue units had already been called out, then why in blazes were these people taking a tour of the river??? Nothing from the article makes sense.
Often S& R volunteers are in fact trained at their own expense and form a team under teh auspices of the local SD or county etc.
I agree that if these S&R folks were spinning around being worthless, then any able-bodied stalwart should be immediateley mtoiviated to “do right” and perform within the limits of reasonable capabilities.
Of course, often the “government” knows “best”, as we all know and they are never wrong.
several years ago, i was Scoutmaster of Troop xx. we were on an overnight campout. a day hike took us some distance up the canyon along the little creek. there was a deluge. we were caught on the wrong side of the now dangerous river. there was a lot of fast water and debris. we hiked back to the campgound thru the bushes on the wrong side of that water. when we got adjacent to camp, we called for assistance. two sheriff deputies showed up on the other side. it was getting dark. they threw a rope across and told us to use it to cross the river.
considering the debris and amount of water i refused to send the boys across. i decided it was safer and to climb thru the brush over the mountain (about 600’ height) and down the other side to the highway and then use the highway bridge to cross the river and return to our camp.
as we began climbing up and away, the deputies ordered me to stop and threatened me with arrest for disobeying. i ignored them and we climbed to safety and returned to camp. this took about 3 hours.
the deputies were gone. so great was their concern. and i never saw or heard from them again.
He got promoted, not charged.
For a lot of 2LT and Ensigns it's a real good thing that the promotion to O-2 is automatic.
Having been white water rafting myself, I doubt that he could even hear the sheriff’s orders. The roar of the water is very loud.
There was a similar incident in Florida in the 1980’s. A physician happened upon a wreck with several injured being treated by EMTs and offered assistance. The State Trooper told him to leave the scene. One of the victims was struggling to breathe from an obstructed airway and the physician performed a lifesaving procedure the EMTs were not qualified to do.
In this instance, the physician was arrested, charged and convicted of interfering with law enforcement, despite the fact that he had saved the victims life.
That’s why I don’t stop at wrecks.
It was a whitewater rafting trip, thus the *swollen* scenario.
It is very bad reporting but, on the trips I’ve been on, the guides usually tell you to *self rescue* if you fall out.
I guess if it’s common to have people falling out in certain locations, maybe there was a rescue team set up.
Why shouldn’t they be considered the most qualified rescuers by police?
Very poorly written article. I worked as a guide for whitewater rafting companies for many years. If someone falls out we go get ‘em immediately, either kayak or raft.
http://www.coloradorafting.net/#river-trips/clear-creek/clear-creek-advanced
Not only did they break the law by going in the water, they saved the girl. Clearly, their only intention was to make the rescuers look bad. They should have followed orders and allowed the girl to drown. That way, they wouldn’t have affected the rescuers self esteem.
/sarcasm.
One would think that of all people, rafting guides would be the most qualified to jump into the rapids to rescue someone. That is part of their extensive training, and it’s highly probable that these two guides have already done that a couple times this summer.
FYI
I’d take that bet.
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