BENTONVILLE – Hickory Creek firefighters were threatened with arrest as they tried to find the man who drowned Sunday on Beaver Lake, according to the fire chief.
Hickory Creek Fire Chief Marc Trollinger described anything but a smooth operation between Benton County Sheriff’s Office deputies and other emergency responders on Sunday.
Sunday’s events highlight a longstanding situation in drowning incidents between the Sheriff’s Office and other emergency responders, Trollinger said. The issue is that once an hour has passed, the Sheriff’s Office views such incidents as crime scenes that must be investigated.
Modesto Ortega-Palma, 26, from Mexico, drowned approximately 100 feet from shore in the Hickory Creek area of Beaver Lake. Several people tried to help Ortega-Palma when they noticed he was having trouble, but they were unsuccessful.
Don Townsend, chief deputy of the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, said the body had been in the water for an hour or more, so it was determined that it was not a rescue operation, but a body recovery.
That determination – a death – made the area a crime scene, Townsend said.
The BCSO has its own dive team that is trained in recovery of possible evidence, Townsend said. Team members are trained to be observant of possible evidence around the body, he said.
Townsend said the situation was a recovery operation because Ortega-Palma had been in the water an hour or more.
“We have to approach every death as a crime scene to determine if foul play is involved,” Townsend said. “Ask any judge or prosecutor, and they will tell you the same thing.”
Townsend said Trollinger had not spoken with him regarding his concerns about the situation.
Trollinger said firefighters work well with other lawenforcement agencies. The problem only arises with the Sheriff’s Office.
“Everyone else lets us do our duty and jobs; then they do their investigation,” Trollinger said.
According to Trollinger, his department responded at 6:06 p.m. to the Hickory Creek Recreation Area swim area. Trollinger later issued a news release describing the operation.
Hickory Creek units began search-and-rescue operations at 6:24 p.m. Through witness interviews, a last-seen point for Ortega-Palma was located, and the department’s rescue boat began trolling at 6:28 p.m. using onboard side sonar equipment, Trollinger said in the news release.
At 6:42 p.m., the sonar equipment indicated a probable location of the missing person. At 6:53 p.m., a rescue diver with the Benton County Water Rescue Team arrived, boarded the rescue boat and began suiting up to dive at the location pinpointed by the sonar, according to the press release.
Four minutes later, at 8:57 p.m., Sheriff’s Office deputies declared the area a crime scene because of the event being outside the “golden hour.” The New Jersey Trauma Center at the University Hospital in Newark defines the term “golden hour” as the time period of one hour in which the lives of a majority of critically injured trauma patients can be saved if definitive surgical intervention is provided.
Trollinger said in the release that at that point, the victim had been missing for 51 minutes; during the next 17 minutes, deputies threatened fire-and-water rescue personnel with possible consequences if they continued to perform their search and did not immediately leave the scene.
During the delay, the Fire Department, water-rescue members and bystanders pleaded with deputies to allow the search to continue, Trollinger said in the release.
After failing to gain approval of the Sheriff’s Office, Fire Department personnel and water-rescue members decided to continue the search, Trollinger said.
At 7:14 p.m., water-rescue divers entered the water to search the location indicated by sonar, the press release states. After approximately 20 minutes of searching, the drowning victim was located and removed from the water, Trollinger’s press release states.
“The Fire Department cannot speak as to the condition of the victim or if he at any point may have been a viable patient, as we do not have enough information to form a conclusion,” Trollinger said in the release. “We feel it prudent to note in the accounting of events that the situation that developed between law enforcement and fire officials was a hindrance to smooth scene operations and had a negative effect on the operational goal of rescuing a victim. These events delayed the rescue efforts of responders and delayed the victim’s recovery by more than 15 minutes.”
Trollinger said that had the victim been a viable patient, the delay would have had a detrimental effect on the patient’s possibility of survival.
Trollinger was not at the scene of Sunday’s incident but was told that other emergency responders were threatened with arrest if they did not halt their rescue efforts.
Trollinger said there are documented cases of people recovering after spending an hour or more under water.
“We are trying to be a service to the community when we are called for help, and then to be delayed by the Sheriff’s Office,” Trollinger said. “Let us do our jobs, and don’t interfere with our ability to render aid.”
