Coos Co. Sheriff’s Deputy Gil Datan was killed in an ATV accident in a rural area between Green Acres and Sumner Lane, south east of Coos Bay Monday afternoon, April 20. According to a follow-up news release from District Attorney R. Paul Frasier, Deputy Datan joined the Sheriff’s Office in 2009 after serving as a law enforcement officer with the Reedsport Police Dept., Confederated Tribal Police, North Bend Police Dept. and the Myrtle Pt. Police Dept. beginning in March of 1996. He is the first deputy sheriff killed while on duty since the Sheriff’s Office lost Sgt. Lisa Wampole in a vehicle accident back in July of 1999. Datan was recently assigned Timber Deputy after serving a two-year stint as an assigned detective with the South Coast Interagency Narcotics Team (SCINT). According to the District Attorney, Deputy Datan was last heard from Monday afternoon when he sent his girlfriend a cell phone text with a photo between 2 and 3 p.m. He was scheduled to go off shift at 4 p.m. When he didn’t radio in that he was back in his truck, the Sheriff’s Office assembled a team of officers and an active search began by 6 p.m. The U.S. Coast Guard participated with an aerial search by helicopter. Deputy Datan was found at 9:45 p.m. in rugged terrain about three to five miles from where he had parked his pickup truck. “It appears that while Deputy Datan was attempting to navigate a steep embankment with the ATV that the ATV rolled over and down the embankment. Deputy Datan was thrown from the ATV as it rolled. Unfortunately the ATV landed on its side on top of Deputy Datan causing his death.” He leaves behind his girlfriend and a teenage daughter from a previous marriage.
