On Friday October 9, The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office received a call regarding three subjects stranded on a rocky ledge. The subjects were determined to be on a ledge North/West of Eagle Falls. El Dorado County Search and rescue was dispatched and spent the night attempting to locate an access point for the subjects. On Saturday morning a California Highway Patrol helicopter arrived on scene and attempted to hoist the subjects off the ledge. Due to gusty wind conditions they were unable to safely hoist the subjects out. Search and Rescue personnel were air lifted to the top of the mountain and rappelled down to the subjects. All three subjects were lowered down and then walked out to waiting medical attention. The subjects were identified as James Lerude, Todd Syper and Kayly Occonor all residents of Sacramento. None of the subjects sustained any injuries.

On October 10, 2015 at approximately 5:36 PM, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call reporting an airplane crash in the area of Oflyng Drive and Tionontati Street.  Sheriff’s Deputies arrived on scene and discovered an airplane on fire next to a residence on the 1600 block of Oflyng Drive.  The occupant(s) of the airplane were not able to escape and died within the wreckage.

The fire spread to the residence, which caught fire.  Individuals within the residence escaped without injury.  The Fire Department extinguished the fire shortly afterwards, but due to the residual heat and nightfall, Sheriff’s Deputies  were unable to recover the airplane’s occupants.

Sheriff’s Deputies were posted throughout the night providing scene security until morning when Coroner Detectives, NTSB and FAA arrived to continue the investigation.

October 11, 2015 at 12:10 PM, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office Coroner Detectives, along with NTSB and FAA personnel have begun their investigation.  Two victims were recovered from the wreckage.  The identities of the victims is not readily available and will be determined at a later date by the Coroner.

NTSB will be responsible for determining the probable cause of the airplane accident.

The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office Explorer POST 457 returned home winners from the Riverside Police Explorer Competition held September 19^th and 20^th in Riverside, CA.

Explorer POST 457 competed against over 25 of the top explorer teams from throughout California and took home the following awards:

1st Place – Unknown Risk Traffic Stop Scenario 1st Place

Officer Down Scenario  1st Place

Individual female explorer physical agility / obstacle course (Explorer Deputy Rachel Dehlinger)  3rd Place

Crime Scene Investigation Scenario 5th Place – Individual male explorer physical agility / obstacle course (Explorer Deputy Steven Ross)

Eight Explorers from the POST – Morgan Sears, Courtney Granade, Rachel Dehlinger, Laura Russell, Faith Mulholland, Stefanie Davidson, Alan Szarmach and Steven Ross composed the 8-member El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office Explorer team.

Explorers demonstrated their skills and were evaluated in several reality based scenarios including active shooter, pedestrian stop, officer down, emergency negotiations, domestic violence, felony traffic stop, unknown risk traffic stop, crime scene investigation, airsoft shooting, building search, and report writing.