Helicopter Crashes Into Snake River

Sept. 3, 2019

ASOTIN — No injuries were reported in a weekend helicopter crash about 13 miles upstream from Clarkston on the Snake River.

The incident apparently started when Lewis G. Weiss of Duvall, Wash., and Alexander J. Jobe of Sammamish, Wash., saw flashlights on the Idaho side of the river, said Asotin County Undersheriff Jody Brown in a text.

Jobe, who has a secondary residence near the crash site in Asotin County, and his friend, Weiss, reportedly believed there was an emergency and decided to investigate, he said.

Emergency dispatchers were alerted to the crash of the privately owned helicopter at about 10:45 p.m. on Saturday by Josephine Weiss, of Duvall, according to a news release from the Nez Perce County Sheriff’s Office.

Afterward, law enforcement was told Weiss and Jobe left in a vehicle going to help the people who were in distress, Brown said.

“The (Nez Perce County Sheriff’s Office) was never notified of any emergency on the Idaho side, so we are unsure of what they supposedly saw,” he said.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which is also investigating the crash, said a third individual was in the helicopter, a Hughes 500, but didn’t provide a name in an email it sent to the Tribune Sunday.

Brown said he hadn’t heard that a third person was in the helicopter, and to the best of his knowledge, no one in the Asotin County Sheriff’s Office had spoken to Weiss or Jobe as of early Sunday evening.

Earlier Sunday, Nez Perce County Sheriff Joe Rodriguez said his department’s efforts to reach Weiss and Jobe hadn’t been successful before it was determined the accident happened in Asotin County.

In addition to the FAA, the National Transportation Safety Board is going to investigate, according to an email from the FAA.

That is different than what Brown was told.

“The NTSB released the aircraft with no investigation, and now the owner is responsible for removal,” he said.

Williams may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 848-2261.

———

©2019 the Lewiston Tribune (Lewiston, Idaho)

Visit the Lewiston Tribune (Lewiston, Idaho) at www.lmtribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.