Elected through Terror

Untitled Part 43

While the annual Rajneesh festival 1985 version was relatively uneventful, we did have a situation that was not acceptable and there was nothing I could do about it – other than to make sure it never happened again.

It was in the middle of the afternoon of July 3rd, a Wednesday, when I received a phone call from the Reserve Deputy that had been at my first meeting.

She said, "We think we have had a drowning in the lake."

I asked, "You think you have?"

She said, "Yes, the report just came in that there was a man who had gone under the water and we can't find him."

I told her to have the Chief call me as soon as possible.

As required by state law an accidental drowning must be investigated.

Our Sergeant was heading back up to The Dalles; he was on Bake Oven Road a few miles from Shaniko and a good 45 minutes to an hour from the ranch. I told the dispatcher to have him go back to Shaniko and call me.

A few minutes later I had another call from the Reserve, she said there was definitely a drowning and they had divers attempting to locate the man. He was Japanese and had come in, from a city in Japan, for the festival.

I asked her if they had any Deputy Medical Examiners at the ranch, I was pretty sure they didn't. This position is held by law enforcement officers who have gone through training AND had been appointed as such by the County Medical Examiner.

I had not heard that any had been appointed there – and again there would be a question as to legality if they weren't an actual city.

She didn't know. She did say the Chief was at the scene and would call me as soon as she could – that made sense that is where I would have been.

I told the Reserve I would notify the County Medical Examiner and the District Attorney, I was pretty sure the CME would want the body brought up to The Dalles.

She started arguing with me, and I told her that it was state law.

Our District Attorney was easily found – most of the time, this was one of the few times he had left the office early and no one knew where he was, at the time he didn't have a Deputy DA. I didn't consider that a major problem, we were just required to notify him and we would continue to try and contact him.

I called Dr. John, the CME. I told him I had a Sergeant who was a DMA and I would have him go to the scene. He said have the body brought up to The Dalles for autopsy.

I then received a third call from the Reserve – approximately 45 minutes after her first call.

She said, "The divers found the body and the ambulance crew worked on him and got him breathing again. They are taking him to the medical facilities."

A few minutes later I was called, by the Chief, and told that while the man was alive when they got him to the facility he was worked on by the doctor who declared him dead. She also said the doctor said he was a Jefferson County Asst. Medical Examiner.

When I took that initial tour back in March I wondered why every business and lodging facility was in Wasco County – and the medical facility was in Jefferson County; now I knew.

She said that the young man had been swimming in the lake with some other Rajneesh. He had been going from the shore to a large raft they had a few yards out. Suddenly he started thrashing water and then went down. It took them a while to find him, revive him and take him to the clinic where he died.

I called Dr. John back up and told him where we were on the drowning and the doctor on scene was a Jefferson County Asst. Medical Examiner.

After a few cuss words and comments, which included my thoughts that this was wrong, you don't revive an adult who has been underwater that long – in warm water – in that heat. He said, "Bring the body up to The Dalles!"

The ranch had a large number of security personnel with semi-automatic weapons. I had a total of 12 deputies, of which only two were on duty. There was no way I was going to go down there and get the body – which was in Jefferson County - without further backup and that was going to take time.

I told him that. I also told him that the pronouncing physicians was an Assistant Medical Examiner for Jefferson County – (which trumps anything I could do as a Deputy Medical Examiner.)

He thought for a moment and said he would contact the State Medical Examiner (who appoints the County Medical Examiners AND his Assistants.)

The State Medical Examiner was recently appointed as the Temporary State Medical Examiner. The former SMA had done some things that the Governor had felt were unethical and discharged him, appointing his Chief Deputy to replace him while they searched, nationally, for a permanent replacement.

His office couldn't find him. After about a half hour they finally located him and he talked with Dr. John. He said he knew the Rajneesh doctor and trusted his judgement. Since the death actually 'occurred' in Jefferson County it was his body and his case. If the Rajneesh doctor said it was an accidental drowning, that was good enough for him.

Dr. John called me up, exasperated, saying leave him there.