UPDATE: Water Rescue In Deschutes River (Photo) - 07/22/22
UPDATE:
Joseph Torkelson died from the injuries he endured from this incident.
UPDATE:
After an investigation, Bend Police have identified the man who was rescued from the Deschutes River on Thursday afternoon as 56-year-old Bend resident Joseph Clarence Torkelson.
Torkelson was apparently floating the river with a roommate. Torkelson and the roommate put in to the river upstream in Bend. Instead of staying to the left to ride through the gentle rapids at Colorado Avenue, Torkelson somehow ended up on the wrong side of the buoys and was sucked under and through the dam. Shortly thereafter, Torkelson was found and pulled from the river.
Torkelson remains in the ICU at St. Charles Bend.
ORIGINAL RELEASE BELOW
Date: July 21, 2022
Incident #: 2022-00042600
Incident: Water Rescue in Deschutes River
Date / Time of Incident: July 21, 2022 / 2:17 p.m.
Location: Bend Whitewater Park / McKay Park
At approximately 2:17 p.m., Bend Police and Bend Fire & Rescue were dispatched to a person in the Deschutes River near McKay Park and the Whitewater Park. A 911 caller from the Colorado Avenue Footbridge reported seeing a body in the water and directing a kayaker to it. The person was located in the center channel of the river, near the footbridge.
By 2:20 p.m., bystanders had pulled a man from the water and police officers and fire personnel conducted CPR on the individual for more than 10 minutes. The person was transported to St. Charles Bend. No further information on his condition is known at this time.
An investigation is ongoing. The person’s identity at this point is not known. No one at McKay Park or in the water at the time saw the man go underwater, and it is unknown where the man may have entered the river or how long he was underwater.
Bend Police put a drone in the air to look for additional victims, boats or floats. No additional victims or abandoned watercraft were found.
Bend Police closed the Colorado Avenue Bridge in both directions for approximately 30 minutes.
More information will be released as it becomes available.
Bend Police thank Bend Fire & Rescue, as well as bystanders, for their assistance at the scene.
