John Thornton Jenkins ascended Mount Hood on May 7, 2017. Located approximately 50 miles east of Portland, Mount Hood rises 11,249 above sea level as one of the prominent summits of the Cascade Range in Oregon. As Jenkins, a 32-year-old experienced mountain climber approached the Pearly Gates area near the summit around 10:40 a.m. he lost his footing and fell nearly 600 feet along the snow-covered terrain. He came to a rest in an area known as Devil’s Kitchen, a high, remote, and cold area on the mountain face.

Jenkins landed in an area difficult to reach. In intense pain, he immediately needed emergency services. Another climber came to his side within eight minutes and called 911. They awaited the arrival of a rescue team. With Jenkins suffering and in terrible pain, every moment lost made the situation worse.

In a $10 million lawsuit filed by members of his family, they claim that emergency personnel mishandled the 911 call. The delay that resulted from these missteps contributed to Jenkins’s death. A 911 dispatcher routed the call to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office. An employee there mistakenly told the person who made the call to contact the ski patrol teams at Timberline Ski Resort, even though Jenkins was a climber, not a skier, and on a different part of the mountain far above and away from any ski areas

Nearly 45 minutes after Jenkins first fell, a staff member at Timberline called 911 and they were directed back to the Sheriff’s Office. This series of delays kept first responders from requesting a rescue helicopter from the Oregon Army National Guard until 12:29 p.m. The helicopter did not reach the scene until 3:11 p.m. When rescuers tried to fasten Jenkins to the basket, his lungs started to fail and he perished.

The lawsuit claims that judgment errors led to a delay of more than four hours between the time of the fall and the arrival of the rescue team. The dispute involves disagreements about whether ground crews could have arrived more quickly and whether various agencies handled these calls with enough urgency. Even though the helicopter arrived very quickly after getting the call, the delays beforehand certainly complicated the situation.

In the early morning hours of Valentine’s Day 2017, 18-year-old Marist High School senior William Han Manstrom-Greening committed suicide by using his father’s unsecured service weapon. William’s father Glenn Greening, along with Greening’s employer Lane County, have both been named as defendants by William’s estate in a wrongful death lawsuit filed just last week. According to the lawsuit. “On February 13, 2017, Lane County Parole and Probation Officer Glenn Greening left his Glock 19 duty weapon and ammunition readily accessible, loaded and unattended inside his home, and went to bed. His son, William Han Manstrom-Greening,” having gained easy access to the unsecured weapon then used the gun to kill himself.

The suit goes on to say that Lane County Parole and Probation, together with William’s father Glenn Greening, not only enhanced the dangerous circumstances surrounding the young man’s passing but in the end were the cause of William Han Manstrom-Greening’s wrongful death. “Lane County failed to ensure that Glenn Greening, an armed Lane County parole officer, properly stored his handgun.” Finally, the suit uncovers the previous history that Greening was suspended from carrying a gun in 2004 for threatening and harassing William’s mother. Despite this incident, the county re-authorized Greening to once again carry a gun in 2012.”

David Park, the attorney representing William’s estate says “law enforcement officers should be held to the highest standards of firearms safety. Doing so requires careful selection of the persons authorized to carry firearms as well as careful supervision of those persons, once selected.” Without access to his father’s gun, the wrongful death suit alleges that William would still be alive today.

Adopted at the age of just eleven months, William grew up In Eugene, Oregon as a well-liked scholar-athlete who ran cross country, played soccer, flag football, basketball, and baseball all while maintaining a 3.6-grade point average. William has been described an especially kind young man who was known to enjoy volunteering, traveling, playing a variety of board games and spending time with his family and friends. William’s future plans included attending Oregon State University with his fellow Marist High classmates following graduation this past spring.