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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on July 2, 2007 10:57 PM. The previous post in this blog was It's way past time to take it to the streets. The next post in this blog is A math word problem in Portland. Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.

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Monday, July 2, 2007

Disgrace, local edition

As shattered as my faith in our nation is, my pride in being an Oregonian isn't exactly shining today, either.

Comments (11)

It will make a nice lawsuit.

While the family reaction is somewhat understandable it also makes me a little ticked off at the family. To place blame on dispatchers, OSP and the Fire Dept is wrong and shortsighted. They did a check of the area and couldn't find anything wrong. People get in little accidents or go off the road all the time and many times are able to get themselves out of the situation and continue on there way, and 911 recieves calls all the time that turn out to be nothing.

If the family sues that will make this all the more tragic...

People get in little accidents or go off the road all the time and many times are able to get themselves out of the situation and continue on there way,

On 26? West of Elsie? Really?

"Unless you are right on the edge you are not going to see it." I think they're paid to actually go ahead and get right on the edge.

The caller even said "We can't even see 'em from the roadway."

This was botched.

Did anyone call back the guy who made the initial report?

Seems to me if you call an accident in, and rescuers are sent, find nothing...do they shrug their shoulders and move on, or get back to the caller and say: are you sure you saw something?

I'm also pissed at the eyewitness. Why did he leave the scene of the accident? Why didn't he go to the car and try to render aid? So he just called it in, and continued on his merry way? That's not right, either...

OK, so they could not find the car when the accident was reported. But why didn't any of those who were involved in the initial report and investigation ever put two and and two together? Red car going off road on June 8. Couple in red car missing since June 8. Hmmmm. Oregon does look like it is populated with hicks.

I inferred that the reason the witness didn't stay and help was that he didn't have a cell phone, or didn't have any cell phone reception in that area, and he figured that he ought to call for help as soon as he could.

That could be, Isaac. But if it were you, wouldn't you have stopped to check on them? And if you did run off to find a phone, wouldn't you go back afterwards? I can't imagine anyone doing otherwise...

"Did anyone call back the guy who made the initial report?"

Well, most every time I've called 911 they've asked for a call-back number. On the other hand, I've rarely received a call back. (And even then, only to be a witness in court.)

"But if it were you, wouldn't you have stopped to check on them? And if you did run off to find a phone, wouldn't you go back afterwards?"

Not necessarily. It sounds like there was obviously nothing the witness could do at the scene, and that the phone was a long way away. Combined with the assumption that emergency services would find the car from such clear directions, It's hard to see how a reasonable person would think they needed to go back.

(I might have thought to drop a flare or other marker at the spot where the car left the road, but a person might not think of that in the heat of the moment or have a marker to place.)

Unlike Portland, most other cities and counties in Oregon are strapped for resources. They did the best they could with the resources they had available. They probably busted their budget doing an expensive air search right at the tail end of the fiscal year. It's too bad this didn't turn out differently, but I don't think you can pin blame on these public safety agencies in rural Oregon. They are doing the best they can. Is that "good enough" by California standards? Probably not.

For whatever it's worth KXL quotes dispatch as saying the guy reporting it left neither a name nor a number. Nor did he return to the scene of the accident. The officer reportedly searched the area on foot for an hour and didn't see the car.

Greg C




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