The Brookings Police Department notified the Curry County Sheriff’s Office late Saturday afternoon, January 6th, regarding a call received about a suicidal subject at the Thomas Creek Bridge about ten miles north of Brookings on U.S. Highway 101, according to a Monday afternoon press release from the Curry County Sheriff’s Office.
The Oregon State Police were also notified and several Deputies responded arriving within a few minutes and did not locate anybody on the bridge, but did however find a vehicle in the parking lot south of the bridge, registered to the initial caller, identified as 39 year old Andrew Larsen of Lake Oswego, Oregon.
Further inspection of the vehicle in the parking area south of the bridge by an Oregon State Trooper revealed items and information inside the vehicle, indicating Larsen may have jumped from the bridge.
A drone to search under the bridge was deployed by a Curry County Sheriff’s deputy, however, due to darkness it was unable to locate anything under the bridge.
Due to the dangerous descent to the bottom because of the darkness, it was decided that the Curry County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team would search under the bridge at first light the next morning, Sunday, January 7th, as deputies remained in the area to search along the roadway.
Early Sunday morning, the Curry County Search and Rescue team deployed a drone and located a body in the thick brush below the bridge. Six Search and Rescue members then descended to the bottom locating and confirming the body was that of Andrew Larsen.
Coos Curry Electric was asked to assist with a boom truck and line pulling machine, and once the ground Search and Rescue team located Larsen and prepared him to be moved, the Coos Curry Electric Team used the line pulling machine and boom truck to raise Larsen from the bottom to the top of the bridge.
Larsen was then released to Redwood Memorial out of Brookings.
The Curry County Sheriff’s Office and the Wild Coast Compass extend our condolences to the family and friends of Andrew Larsen, an Army Veteran.
