Yotsie
Contributor
Friday started out with us assembling at the hanger to head out to Dry Creek at Kerwin Park for an evidence search for the Modesto Police Department. Seems Thursday evening MPD had an attempted murder case after bad guy tried to chop off half of victims face with a 3 foot machete. Bad guy tossed machete into the creek, prompting our response.
We got on scene and deployed for the search at 0955 hours. Machete was located at 1015 hours. All agencies involved in the case were very impressed with the speed of the evidence recovery and feel the case is now a no win situation for bad guy. The rest of Friday was spent cleaning, loading and generally getting ready for the next call. All three of our reservoirs are maxed out population wise. We have three times the normal staffing at two of the three, with the third controlled by state park rangers.
Saturday, my last day off, was spent mostly in the backyard by the pool. The pager again played its dreadful tune. 1500 hours: Respond to hanger, 14 year old missing in river at Laird Park. Well, two thirds of the team responds and we arrived on scene at 1600 hours. Laird Park is a county run park which has been closed since February due to flooding of the San Joaquin River. This river is 500-600 feet across during normal flows. Its double its size right now. Story by patrol deputy investigating is 11 year old brother goes in after 5 year old sister is allowed to wander into the water. 11 year old boy returns 5 year old sister to shore to relatives who still arent paying attention to the kids. 11 year old decides to venture back out into the river flow, steps off an underwater embankment and is not seen again (yes, the age is usually wrong on the initial call out).
Now saying this river scares me is an understatement. But keeping our last recovery in mind (two years ago, 15 year old located 10 feet under at last seen point) I felt it might not be as bad as it looks. I along with another veteran diver is tapped by the Team Leader to start the search.
Joe and I start a pendulum pattern to cover the area of the point last seen. I find a 45 degree drop off which goes from 4 feet to 15 feet and levels out. This area is covered in 30 minutes. As we reach 70 feet out on the rope, I find a 90 degree drop off down to 25 feet and a current so strong, I became nothing more than a fishing lure trying to keep my AGA in place. I make the call to abort and Joe is there to pull me out of the main channel and back to relative safety.
We regroup and decide to clear an area down stream of the point last seen and call it. The main channel of the river is still running too fast for any type of operation to be conducted in it. Family is told and a long term plan is put in place to keep regular patrols by land and air, waiting for refloat.
We returned to the hanger dejected, but knowing we search right up to and maybe a little too far beyond our capabilities. Now its a sit and wait situation on this one. I just hope the rest of this holiday weekend goes better.
We got on scene and deployed for the search at 0955 hours. Machete was located at 1015 hours. All agencies involved in the case were very impressed with the speed of the evidence recovery and feel the case is now a no win situation for bad guy. The rest of Friday was spent cleaning, loading and generally getting ready for the next call. All three of our reservoirs are maxed out population wise. We have three times the normal staffing at two of the three, with the third controlled by state park rangers.
Saturday, my last day off, was spent mostly in the backyard by the pool. The pager again played its dreadful tune. 1500 hours: Respond to hanger, 14 year old missing in river at Laird Park. Well, two thirds of the team responds and we arrived on scene at 1600 hours. Laird Park is a county run park which has been closed since February due to flooding of the San Joaquin River. This river is 500-600 feet across during normal flows. Its double its size right now. Story by patrol deputy investigating is 11 year old brother goes in after 5 year old sister is allowed to wander into the water. 11 year old boy returns 5 year old sister to shore to relatives who still arent paying attention to the kids. 11 year old decides to venture back out into the river flow, steps off an underwater embankment and is not seen again (yes, the age is usually wrong on the initial call out).
Now saying this river scares me is an understatement. But keeping our last recovery in mind (two years ago, 15 year old located 10 feet under at last seen point) I felt it might not be as bad as it looks. I along with another veteran diver is tapped by the Team Leader to start the search.
Joe and I start a pendulum pattern to cover the area of the point last seen. I find a 45 degree drop off which goes from 4 feet to 15 feet and levels out. This area is covered in 30 minutes. As we reach 70 feet out on the rope, I find a 90 degree drop off down to 25 feet and a current so strong, I became nothing more than a fishing lure trying to keep my AGA in place. I make the call to abort and Joe is there to pull me out of the main channel and back to relative safety.
We regroup and decide to clear an area down stream of the point last seen and call it. The main channel of the river is still running too fast for any type of operation to be conducted in it. Family is told and a long term plan is put in place to keep regular patrols by land and air, waiting for refloat.
We returned to the hanger dejected, but knowing we search right up to and maybe a little too far beyond our capabilities. Now its a sit and wait situation on this one. I just hope the rest of this holiday weekend goes better.
