Car Swept Away

February 15, 2019
Wilson Valley Rd., Anza
2019-006

Written by Shani Pynn

At roughly 8:30 AM on Friday the team was called out to help with a coordinated search of a recently flooded creek where two vehicles washed downstream from a road crossing. I had just settled in to a nice quiet day of catching up on things at work, but hey, that’s how it goes sometimes. So, I checked in with the bosses and headed out towards Hemet to pick up the truck. Josh and Vinay were also responding, and I let them know they would be arriving ahead of me.

Road from Truck

Truck looking back at Road
Photo by Shani Pynn.

After picking up the diesel and navigating around some other flood closures I arrived at the command post at about 11:30 AM. There, I learned two vehicles had been washed downstream from the nearby road crossing. The people in one of them had gotten out safely. One person, presumably from the other vehicle, wasn’t so lucky. So, unfortunately, a recovery team would be picking that subject up later with the coroner.

Josh with Stream

Josh with Flooded Stream
Photo by Shani Pynn.

The three of us, two from Search Dogs, and several folks from Posse were set to search for other possible passengers from that second vehicle. We were to hike down either side of the drainage, so the dog team split up and Mike and his dog Journey came with Josh, Vinay, and I to search the far side. We hiked near the water’s edge where possible and climbed around larger terrain obstacles where necessary.

Truck in Wash

Truck in Wash
Photo by Shani Pynn.

Car in Wash

Car in Wash
Photo by Shani Pynn.

We searched the vehicle as well since it was accessible from that bank and previous searchers had been unable to see in from that side. While we had been searching, Glenn, Chad, and Michael had come and conducted the recovery of the one deceased subject found earlier. Mike, Josh, Vinay and I continued searching downstream until the deputies called the search due to dangerous weather coming in just before 3PM. No other subjects were found.

RMRU Members Involved: Chad Becker, Blake Douglas, Michael George, Joshua Gould, Glenn Henderson, Shani Pynn, Vinay Rao.