Oregon Responders Missed Reported Wreck
Family members have questioned whether their loved ones' lives could have been saved.
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ore.-- A driver witnessed the car driven by a missing Calif. priest veer off Highway 26 into a ravine, and reported the crash and detailed location information to 9-1-1 dispatchers, but authorities couldn't find the car and called off the search, according to police records.
That 9-1-1 call came in at 4:20 p.m. on June 8, the same day David Schwartz and Cheryl Gibbs were last seen alive. Earlier that morning, they had asked for directions back to Portland while visiting a winery in Nehalem.
Confusion delayed 9-1-1 response
Now, family members have questioned whether their loved ones' lives could have been saved.
Schwartz's brother, Tom Mulligan, told KGW the family had reason to believe that the pastor was still alive for a short time after the crash. Mulligan can't believe authorities couldn't locate the car.
"I'm just shocked," said Mulligan.
"It would have to be negligence...the car was definitely easily visible from the shoulder of the road," said Mulligan. "There's absolutely no reason why, if you had mile post 26 and a credible report and detail of a car going off the road, being out of sight - it would have to be negligence."
The dispatcher who received the 9-1-1 call was new to the job, and had some difficulty determining the correct jurisdiction to notify for the response, according to police.
According to police records obtained by KGW, medical and fire personnel were sent to the scene about five minutes later and a LifeFlight helicopter was put on standby. The Washington County Sheriff's Office was also notified and in turn, alerted Oregon State Police.
About 20 minutes later, Oregon State Police reported that they could not find a crashed car and cleared the scene. Another agency stayed and searched about 20 minutes longer until they eventually gave up as well.
Could loved ones have been saved?
The bodies of Schwartz and Gibbs were were eventually found inside the smashed vehicle late Sunday, July 30th after a plane spotted the maroon Toyota Corolla from overhead.
The car had careened about 20 feet down a ravine near where Highway 26 intersects with Highway 53 in Clatsop County, said Deputy Don Taylor with the Tillamook County Sheriff's Office.
Police say the vehicle apparently was headed eastbound on Highway 26 near milepost 26 when, for an unknown reason, it went across the centerline and then down the steep embankment.
The car was resting on its wheels and had front-end damage. There were no skid marks on the road.
Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin said it did not look like Schwartz or Gibbs were wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash.
State Police to conduct internal investigation
State police say they are conducting an internal investigation into the response the 9-1-1 call. According to Lt. Greg Hastings with the Oregon State Police, a state trooper was first to arrive at the scene and drove slowly between milepost 25 and 27, checking both sides of the highway, making three passes through the two mile stretch without spotting any evidence of the crash.
State police are also hoping to locate the man who made the 9-1-1 call. The man provided the dispatcher with a name and phone number but a woman answered the phone and said no one with the provided name lived there.
Republished with permission of KGW-TV.
