Elliott State Forest MVA, June 14

News release from the Coos Co. Sheriff’s Office. On June 11, 2016 at about 6:63 PM, Coos County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the 2000 Road, Deans Mountain Road in the Elliott State Forest east of Coos Bay, Oregon for a reported motor vehicle crash with injuries. Upon arriving in the area at about 8:11 pm Deputies discovered a Toyota Tacoma pickup had failed to negotiate a curve and had tumbled down a steep embankment. The vehicle came to rest about 50 yards below in the thickly wooded and steep terrain. The original person that reported that accident was unable to be contacted by phone and he had left the area. It was reported during the initial 911 call that a man and a woman had been in the vehicle but their location was unknown at the time of the deputy’s arrival. Deputies crawled down the embankment to vehicle and found no one inside or near the truck. Bloody handprints on the outside of the white pickup truck showed someone had been injured. Unable to locate anyone inside or around the vehicle and the possibility that someone was injured but unaccounted for the, a request for a helicopter from the Coast Guard Station North Bend was contacted through the Oregon Emergency Management System in Salem and flew to the area. Using their night sun device and night vision goggles the helicopter searched the area but with negative results. The deputy again went over the embankment further from the vehicle as a light was seen but no one was found. At about 10:45 PM, the reporting party was finally contacted and it was learned that he had taken the man and woman home that were in the vehicle. The investigation is continuing with deputies making arrangements today to contact the man and woman in the vehicle, to identify them and investigate the cause of the accident.