Bystanders describe desperate attempt to rescue California man who drowned Thursday at Devils Churn on Cape Perpetua

 

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com

Bystanders trying to rescue a California man Thursday from the depths of Devils Churn had him briefly on a makeshift line and then a life ring for 10-15 minutes before the cold surf and an apparent head injury swept him away.

Steve Allen, 67, of Walnut Creek, Calif. is missing and presumed drowned after frantic bystanders were unable to pull him from the water and then water rescue crews were unable to find and recover his body.

Allen was with his wife, Linda, on the rocks near the east end of the deep, narrow chute when he tried jumping from the south side to the north. It was nearing a 2:20 p.m. high tide.

Andy Nelson of Portland was 50 yards away with his son, Evan, a student at Oregon State University, and saw Allen attempt to jump across a 3- to 4-foot wide section of Devils Churn.

“It looks like you can jump across, but the other side is steep and slick,” Nelson said in an interview Friday with YachatsNews. “He just missed his footing and fell back into the water.”

During the rescue, Nelson used a path that goes around the east end of the churn to get from the south to the north side.

Nelson and his son worked with 5-6 other bystanders to fashion a line made up of belts, a dog leash and two shirts and dropped it 15 feet into the chute. Allen was floating on his back and the rescuers directed him to their makeshift line, which he was was able to grab for just a short time.

Nelson said rescuers were at the edge of the rocks, forming a human chain to help prevent another person from slipping and going into the water. “We didn’t want this to be a double tragedy,” he said.

Evan Nelson ran up to the Forest Service concession area in the parking lot, alerted a volunteer to call 9-1-1 and returned with a park ranger who had a rope with a life ring.

Allen was able to grab the life ring and hold on for 10-15 minutes, Nelson said, but had what appeared to be a “pretty big” head injury.

“It was cold … he was struggling,” Nelson said. “And then it became hard for him to hold on. Then he let go. It was too late.”

Allen was alive in the water for 20-30 minutes total, Nelson estimated, but it was impossible for the group to haul him up and over the cliff to safety.

“It was a really incredible effort to try to save him,” said Nelson, who is the executive director of Impact NW, a Portland-based nonprofit helping the homeless. “There was no way to get him out of there. We just couldn’t do it. “

Other bystanders helped console Linda Allen.

Responders included personnel from the U.S. Coast Guard, Siuslaw National Forest, Oregon State Police, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Yachats Rural Fire Protection District, and the multi-jurisdictional Lincoln County rope rescue team. They ended their search at 6:40 p.m. Thursday after four hours.

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter was dispatched from North Bend and a rescue boat from Florence, but it stayed offshore. Coast Guard personnel and a member of the Lincoln County rope rescue team walked the south edge of Devils Churn looking for Allen, but could not spot him.

While Nelson said he was surprised that someone would try to jump over the chute’s narrow opening at the east end, “It was not a stunt. It was an innocent mistake.”