Curry County Sheriff’s Dispatch received a 911 transfer call from the Brooking Police Department Saturday April 22nd, regarding a report that four individuals had fallen at Secret Beach, just north of Brookings.
Initial reports from the caller, 28 year old Jordan Acord from Grants Pass, was that her two children, her husband and a juvenile friend of the family had fallen over the cliff.
Brookings Dispatch advised that they paged out medical and fire and that their patrol units were responding. The Sheriff’s Search and Rescue rope team as well as available Patrol Deputies, the Sheriff, and a Patrol Sergeant were all paged out by Sheriffs Dispatch. The U.S. Coast Guard was contacted by Sheriffs Dispatch to respond and an Oregon State Trooper responded to the scene.
The U.S. Coast Guard was not able to respond to the initial request due to the foggy conditions, however, they responded from their North Bend air station after the weather lifted.
It was quickly learned as first responders began to arrive at the reported scene, that the location was not at Secret Beach, but a small beach a little further north. The Acord’s vehicle was located by authorities at the Spruce Island View Point and then located the trail they went in on.
A couple of first responders rappelled to the beach and both 8 year old Nolan Haptonstall and 36 year old Ryan Acord were located about 200ft. below the trails end. Medical assistance was immediately provided to Nolan and it was determined that Ryan Acord was deceased from the fall to the rocky beach.
The U.S. Coast Guard Helicopter arrived and lowered a rescue swimmer down to the beach where 8 year old Nolan was air lifted out and flown to Curry General Hospital in Gold Beach where he was attended to and then flown by Air Reach to OHSU in Portland.
The U.S. Coast Guard then returned to the beach area and transported the body of Ryan Acord to the Brookings airport where he was released to Redwood Memorial. Search and Rescue rope team members were able to rappel to the other two juveniles that had fallen down the steep embankment, but not over the edge, and bring them back to safety.
12 year old Kade Acord, who had fallen off the upper portion of the trail was hanging onto a small tree stopping him from falling the rest of the way, was transported by Cal Or Life Flight Ambulance to Curry General hospital where he was attended to and released to his mother. 8 year old Liam Stidham, who had fallen off of the trail in the upper portion, was uninjured and released to his mother, Jordan Acord.
Sheriff Ward stated that at the time of this press release, he had spoken to Nolan’s mother who reported that Nolan had some serious injuries from his fall, is doing fine, and is expected to have a full recovery.
