http://www.cityofboise.org/Departments/Police/NewsReleasesDailyArrests/2010/page57810.aspx

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Boise, Aug. 2, 2010 - Boise Police, Garden City Police and the Boise Fire Dive Rescue Team responded to a call for a rescue on the Boise River Sunday afternoon at approx 3:02 p.m. The caller reported a woman had fallen from a raft and was caught in the strong current of the diversion dam near Quinn's Pond. At last report, investigating officers say the woman remains hospitalized with injuries that appear potentially life threatening. 

 

What Happened: Witnesses tell emergency responders the woman in her 20's, was with two men on a raft pulling two tubes floating the Boise River. When the raft went over the diversion dam at Quinn's Pond, the woman fell out and became caught in the strong current (Quinn's Pond is the large pond near Idaho River Sports. On a map, it's the pond closest to Main, best accessible from Pleasanton Ave off N. 27th St.).

 

  Witnesses say the woman was caught in the dam's strong current for approx 3 - 5 minutes before one of the men she was with was finally able to pull her ashore. Responding Boise Firefighters administered CPR until an ambulance could rush the woman to a nearby hospital. Sadly, responders say she nearly drowned while in the water. Her condition remains possibly life threatening.

 

Not a good stretch of river for floaters: Boise Police bike officers who patrol that stretch of Greenbelt and Quinn's Pond regularly say the Boise River downstream of Ann Morrison Park is not considered safe and not recommended for floating.

 

"That stretch of river has more rocks and obstacles, more current, more brush and snags. We hardly ever see floaters on the river in that area and that's why. We do not recommend that stretch for floating," said Sgt. Clair Walker of the Boise Police Bike Patrol Unit.

 

 Float Safety Tips: The Boise City Parks & Recreation Department has a web site dedicated to river safety tips and information floaters need. That can be found at http://www.cityofboise.org/Departments/Parks/, click on the "Floating the Boise River" link.

 

BOISE --  A Garden City woman who was rescued from the Boise River Sunday after spending several minutes underwater has died. Twenty-year-old Cassie Conley had been in a coma since the accident. The Ada County coroner confirmed this morning that Conley died at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise.  Debbie Swift, Cassie's aunt, says she passed away Wednesday evening. 

Cassie was floating the river Sunday near a diversion dam at 34th Street and Chinden Boulevard when she fell off an inner tube. Police say Cassie was trapped under water for possibly five minutes before a passerby was able to pull her out. Cassie was the mother of a 3-year-old girl and a 4-month-old boy. 

The family told us they want the public to know how dangerous the Boise River can be at the diversion dam.    They say it only takes one flip or fall to change your life. Donations can be made to the "Cassie Rae Conley Donation Fund" at any Wells Fargo branch. Cassie's death comes on the heels of two other water rescues that took place in the same place on the Boise River in the past two weeks. The Quinn's Pond diversion dam is the second diversion dam on the Boise River, and it can be a very dangerous place for floaters.

Police say there is a strong undertow created by the diversion dam.  The dam is downstream from the take out point at Ann Morrison Park, just past the Main Street overpass. Boise Police Sgt. Clair Walker patrols the area on a daily basis and says it's very rare to see floaters this far down river, but he warns the farther you go down the river, the more danger is involved. "It's more windy when you get below Ann Morrison Park, there's more snags, just the natural vegetation and the natural lay of the land.  The berms are taller on the sides, so it's harder to get out, so just the natural characteristics of the river below Ann Morrison Park are just not as floater friendly," said Walker.

Walker says floating past Ann Morrison Park is not illegal, but if there happens to be a problem on the river, it's much more difficult for emergency responders to get to that portion of the river. In light of these recent incidents, the Boise Fire Dive Team will be training Friday afternoon in that area.  Fire officials say this is a very risky stretch of river -- even for emergency responders.