Surfer, 17, dies at Bend Whitewater Park after becoming trapped under wave

Published: May. 03, 2022

By Michael Krohn, The Bulletin; OregonLive.com

The surfer who died after he was trapped underwater for several minutes at the Bend Whitewater Park on Saturday was 17-year-old Ben Murphy of Bend, according to a family statement posted on social media. Murphy spent six minutes underwater at the standing wave as friends and other surfers flung themselves into the water in an attempt to free him from the underwater panels that make the wave.

Murphy was pulled from the water downstream, given CPR and rushed to St. Charles Bend, where he died, according to the statement posted on Facebook. “I want to thank everyone for their prayers and support over the last two days. Knowing that we were covered in prayer gave us great peace and comfort as we navigated what no parent is equipped for,” according to the statement posted by the youth’s father, Patrick Murphy.

The incident is the first fatality at the Bend Whitewater Park, which opened in 2015. At least six fatalities have been reported at standing wave features on other rivers in the U.S. and Canada in recent years, according to data compiled by Surf Anywhere, a firm that designs river waves. The Whitewater Park is manipulated in real time by adjusting 26 air bladders which are permanently affixed to the river bed. The park, operated by Bend Park & Recreation District, has been closed to surfers since the accident.

In his post, Patrick Murphy said his son was pronounced dead by hospital staff after one hour of CPR and cardiac shock treatment. After a faint heartbeat was detected, Ben Murphy was moved to the intensive care unit for treatment. “The St. Charles staff was more than amazing and worked to keep Ben comfortable and his vitals slowly improved for the first eight hours,” Patrick Murphy stated in the post. “He was on oxygen, tons of medication and was sedated to keep him comfortable.” Patrick Murphy said despite considerable effort by doctors to keep the his son alive, his son’s organs eventually started to fail and he was pronounced dead by St. Charles staff.

The park felt eerily still on Monday, aside from the intermittent chirps from birds and the white noise of the water. On the rocky steps leading to the wave sat bouquets of sunflowers, baby’s breath and carnations as a memorial. On a bench that sits on a strip of land in the middle of river, a note secured by a small rock, flapped in the wind.  Candles were delicately placed on top of some of the rocks close to shore.

Stetson Talley, a 21-year-old Bend resident, was one of the many surfers who tried to save Ben Murphy. Talley said he was at the front of the line when he saw Murphy fall and get his foot stuck in a gate that helps operate the wave. He recalls everyone at the park panicking, trying to figure out how to respond. After a minute, Talley saw Murphy come back up to take a breath of air before going back down into the water. “It was pretty obvious to me and everyone else there that he was unable to help himself,” said Talley.

At that point, other surfers began jumping in to try to help Murphy, he said. Talley, who has worked as a lifeguard for four years, said he jumped in six or seven times in an attempt to save Murphy. Many others did, too. Video of the events showed surfers at one point trying to form a human link to walk and swim into the river to save him. Others dove in with their surfboards as a way to reach Murphy. At one point, Talley recalled holding Murphy’s board and leash, which was still attached to Murphy’s leg. Eventually the wave was shut off and Talley helped pull Murphy out of the river downstream so others could begin CPR. “There was nothing we could do and it was a helpless situation,” he said. “It was terrifying.”

Talley, who said he has been surfing on and off at the wave for the last three years, said he and other surfers he knows have also caught their feet in the crack between the gates that operate the wave. When those incidents occurred he was been able to dislodge his foot in time before getting sucked under. Talley said he doesn’t believe it is anyone’s fault and that this event could not have been foreseen, but said the park district should add more safety measures before the wave opens again.

Bend Police Department communications manager Sheila Miller said there is no evidence of a crime and the incident is not under investigation. District spokesperson Julie Brown said safety features to prevent drownings have been “discussed in the past” and will be revisited as part of an immediate evaluation of the park’s bladder and gate system. Safety features could include an emergency shut-off and equipment such as rings and ropes, she said.

There were no river conditions on Saturday that would have heightened risk, according to a statement from the district.

Teen surfer who was trapped underwater, rescued at Bend Whitewater Park has died, pastor says

Had become trapped underwater in the rocks; BPRD shuts down wave feature

By Barney Lerten, Carly Keenan, Kelsey McGee KTVZ-TV

May 1, 2022 6:14 PM

Published April 30, 2022

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A Bend 17-year-old who became trapped underwater for several minutes Saturday while surfing with friends at the Bend Whitewater Park has died, the family’s pastor confirmed Sunday.

Keith Kirkpatrick, co-lead pastor at Journey Church in Bend, posted a brief public Facebook video and note Sunday afternoon to give the sad update about church member Ben Murphy’s passing. “Friends, this is the update I did not want to ever have to share,” Kirkpatrick said in hushed, pained tones. “Ben is at home with the Lord Jesus. He passed away during a small procedure.”

The pastor offered thanks and gratitude to the thousands who were praying for the teen and for his family. In the posting, Kirkpatrick asked, “Please do not reach out to the family at this time. Honor their requests for privacy. We continue to pray for the Murphy family. We love them and grieve with them.”

Police officers and Bend Fire & Rescue were called around 12:20 p.m. Saturday to a reported water rescue at the whitewater park, located at the Colorado Avenue spillway, Bend Police Communications Manager Sheila Miller said.

The first responders learned the teen had been surfing with a group when he became trapped underwater in the rocks, Miller said.

Bystanders and others in Murphy's group were able to pull him from the water, and first responders performed CPR for about 30 minutes before he was taken to the hospital.

A webcam video overlooking the surfing area showed the teen apparently entering the water, going under and not surfacing. Soon, other surfers are seen diving in, one after the other, in an attempt to free him. Minutes later, several people on scene are seen running downriver, out of the webcam's view, where apparently he was pulled from the water.

A nearby resident, Isabella Ludwig, who went to the scene said more needs to be done for safety of the surfers. "Especially witnessing this today, I think it's really important that something needs to happen, honestly, becuase there are so many tourists that come into Bend that don't know anything about the rapids, and think -- just a sign or something," Ludwig said.

The Bend Park and Recreation District, which operates the whitewater park, provided this statement to NewsChannel 21: “Our thoughts are with the individual and their friends and family as we are awaiting additional information. The wave features are down now and will remain this way until we assess conditions. Any serious accident is a tragedy and a sad day for our facilities and community.”

Park district spokeswoman Julie Brown said this was the first such incident at the whitewater park since it opened in 2015.

The whitewater park was developed with removal of the Colorado Avenue Dam that had been a safety hazard for river floaters. It has three channels: a river right habitat channel, a center whitewater experts channel and a river left passageway called the Fish Ladder for river floaters.

Flow in the whitewater channel is controlled by a series of gates and 26 underwater pneumatic bladders that create waves, depending on water conditions. The park is used by surfers, whitewater kayakers, bodyboarders, paddleboarders and tubers.

https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/nation-world/national/article260983927.html

Friends try to save teen trapped underwater at whitewater park, Oregon officials say

BY DON SWEENEY, Tacoma, WA News Tribune

MAY 02, 2022

 A 17-year-old boy died Saturday, April 30, after becoming trapped in underwater rocks at Bend Whitewater Park, Oregon officials said. The teen had been surfing with friends when he vanished beneath the water at 12:20 p.m., a news release by Bend firefighters and police said. His friends and bystanders pulled the teen from the water, but he died at a hospital after emergency crews tried to revive him for 30 minutes, the release said.

His family identified him as Ben Murphy of Bend in a Facebook post, The Bulletin reported. “Our thoughts are with the individual and their friends and family as we are awaiting additional information,” wrote Bend Parks & Recreation District officials in a Facebook post.

Wave features at the whitewater park have been shut down for the time being, the post said. The district said it was the first such incident at the park since it opened in 2015, KTVZ reported. The whitewater park is along the Deschutes River in Bend, a city of nearly 94,000 people in central Oregon. The park “offers a variety of river recreation opportunities including tubing, kayaking, and surfing,” according to its website.

LESSONS LEARNED FROM BEND WAVE FATALITY

On April 30th, 2022 17-year-old Ben Murphy, a local river surfer became stuck on the wave at Bend, OR. He was able to surface once but died despite heroic efforts of fellow surfers jumping in and grabbing his body. Investigations determined his death was due to a foot entrapment between the pneumatic gate/flap that shapes the wave and one of the static kickers. His leash was also suspected to be a contributing factor by pulling him into and/or holding him in the entrapment.

Reality is, a river surfer drowned that day; but as a result, the Bend government officials and local river surfing community came together to learn from the accident, make repairs to the wave, set a hard fast rule that leashes of any kind are forbidden from use at the Bend Wave, and the wave was re-opened within months of the accident.

Three lessons are to be learned from the river surfing fatality at Bend: leashes are a risk often need not be taken; wave flaw/repairs needed; and, transparency in dealing with the accident and resolution to it. Transparency can be argued as the most important lesson learned.

First, surfboard leashes in the river are dangerous no matter if they do have “quick releases”. It is suspected the Bend surfer had a quick release calf leash. A few seasons back, a Colorado river surfer in Durango almost drown being unable to locate his quick release leash on his pfd while being held down under water (board dislodged from rocks just as the surfer began to breathe in water). And in June 2019, Michael Robert James, river surfing in Buena Vista at the Staircase Wave, “flush down” while fully kitted out with a helmet, pfd, and quick release leash attached to a high volume board (little is known but his leash could have contributed to his death with overconfidence, or even being unable to swim free of his board and thus was dragged through the rapids below).

As part of reopening the Bend wave after the fatality, leashes are no longer permitted on that wave. Locals about lost their minds when the leash ban was proposed; but people quickly figured out how to surf Bend without leashes.

Albeit in Colorado our laws allow you to make your risk tolerance determination, so if you want to go hike a fourteener unprepared and possibly kill yourself, go right ahead. Same could be said about river surfing with a leash in Colorado, you set your risk tolerance on a surf leash because (except for Golden and pfds) nobody is going to tell you what or what not to wear in the river. This leaves it up to the river surfing gear manufacturing industry to figure out a better leash system, same could be said about pfds used for river surfing.

Secondly, all river waves have some sort of inherent danger. The Bend park and recreational staff and leadership did a thorough investigation into the causes of the fatal accident. They identified a design flaw of a gap between the static kicker and the pneumatic gate/flap. Repairs were made to the wave and the gaps no longer exist on the wave.

Periodic review of waves built in Colorado need to be done to make any determinations of dangers that can be corrected or properly mitigated. And if anyone is seeing a problem with wave, they should make it known. At the Bend wave, people had claimed they had experienced the same foot entrapment that ultimately resulted in a later death, but it is not clear if those persons ever reported the problem to anyone of authority.

Thirdly, the most impressive and best lesson learned from the Bend fatality was the open governance and transparency by the park and recreation department in every step of the way from investigation, to repairs, to policy changes, to reopening. Public reports were made and open meetings were had that resulted in reopening Bend as a safer wave to surf. Sure there were some hurt people involved in the process but ultimately all voices were able to comment and speak up in the process.

Transparency is something seriously missing in river surfing in Colorado from the government officials, to the whitewater park builders, to the river surfing industry, and to the heuristic traps of the river surfing communities. Openness concerning river surfing is taboo for reasons as far ranging from profits, to being in control, to selfishness of localism, or other reasons such as tribalism (ocean legacy v. SUP legacy, mountain v. front range, etc).

Conclusion:

Colorado’s river surfing year after year has seen various close calls from footholds to leash incidents, to an unfortunate death; however, all these have been swept under the rug. Nothing has been learned from these accidents. Chalk it it up to fear of addressing the situations, worried about local surfing communities/businesses being held responsible, or ironically, worried about “being sued” for damages when discussing the matters of river surfing safety/accidents. None of those reasons are valid reasons not to engage in open and honest discussions about river surfing accidents, fatalities, and design flaws (flaws from waves to river surfing gear).

Time to put the differences aside…. The hope is we, as Colorado river surfers, can learn from the Bend wave fatality by being smart enough to acknowledge and discuss accidents; willingness to ask hard questions; and willingness to be brave enough to say something when warranted, and willingness to demand transparency by those who have the ability to address/correct the situation.