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Details emerge in bridge death |
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February 9, 2012 |
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Sheriff's
deputies and more than a dozen expert
volunteers worked from first light
through late morning Wednesday to safely
recover the body of Derrick Meister, who
apparently jumped off the Moyie River
Bridge at about 1 a.m. Here, Chief
Deputy Rich Stevens, Svetlana Harper of
the Sheriff's Posse K-9 team, Edith
Stolley, Boundary Search and Dive
Rescue, Barry Blackmore, posse high
angle rescue team leader, Sean McCoy,
high angle team and John Minden,
Boundary Volunteer Ambulance, pause
during the recovery effort. |
According to the Boundary County Sheriffs
Office, it was a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol
agent, crossing the Moyie River Bridge early
Wednesday morning, who made the gruesome
discovery of an apparent suicide.
According to detective David McClelland, the
agent came across an unoccupied pickup
parked in the middle of the bridge shortly after
1 a.m., and, fearing the worst, shone a
spotlight over the guardrail.
The light glinted off what appeared to be a body
on the bank of the Moyie River, more than 400
feet below, and the agent alerted dispatch and
summoned assistance.
By first light, a large contingent gathered at
the scene for the arduous task of recovering the
body, identified by then as Derrick Meister, 21,
Coeur d'Alene. Three sheriff's deputies,
Boundary Volunteer Ambulance personnel, members
of Boundary Search and Dive Rescue, and members
of the Sheriff's Posse K-9 unit and high-angle
rope rescue team, 13 volunteers in all, worked
through late Wednesday morning to safely recover
Meister's remains.
The Moyie River Bridge, opened in 1965 to
replace an earlier, obsolete bridge built in
1923, is the second highest bridge in the State
of Idaho, 424 feet above the canyon floor. The
highest is the Perrine Bridge across the Snake
River near Twin Falls, which is 476-feet above
the canyon floor. |
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