Body pulled from Spokane River identified, death ruled an
accident
By: Emily Oliver
Posted: Jul 02, 2019 - Copyright 2019 KXLY.com.
All rights reserved.
Man's body pulled from Spokane River near TJ Meenach Bridge
SPOKANE, Wash. - A man's body was pulled from the Spokane
River near the TJ Meenach Bridge on Tuesday, where emergency personnel were
responding to two separate water rescues. He has been identified as 56-year-old
Benjamin Cullipher.
According to a post on Twitter, the Spokane Fire Department
was called to W Riverside Ave and S A Street just after 4 p.m. on Tuesday.
The fire department said a family called 911 to report a man
had been floating the river with a group of people when people saw a raft
coming up the river with no person on it. Not long after, a second caller
reported another person further down the river by W TJ Meenach Dr and Fort
George Wright Dr.
The reports had crews splitting up for two separate water
rescues. The second rescue was called off a while later. After an extensive
search by SFD, Valley Fire, State Parks, and the Spokane Police Department, the
man's body was found in shallow water near the river bank at Petit Drive at TJ
Meenach Bridge. According to the Spokane County medical examiner, the death was
ruled an accidental drowning. His body was found without a life jacket.
The Spokane County Boating Safety Ordinance says that life
jackets are required for all people to wear, regardless of age, while on moving
water. Failure to do so can result in a $76 ticket.
Man who
drowned in Spokane River identified
UPDATED:
Wed., July 3, 2019
By Will
Campbell, Spokane Spokesman Review
(509)
459-5513
The Spokane
County Medical Examiner identified the man who drowned in the Spokane River on
Wednesday while inner tubing as Benjamin J. Cullipher. He was 56. A
contributing factor in Cullipher’s drowning was a heart condition known as
dilated cardiomyopathy, a decreased ability to pump blood because of a weakened
heart chamber. Cullipher’s drowning was listed as an accident on the medical
examiner’s website.
At about
4:30 p.m., rescue crews found Cullipher’s body in an eddy on the south side of
the T.J. Meenach Bridge after his group of inner tubers called 911 to report he
was lost from the group and separated from his tube. Cullipher was not wearing
a life jacket, according to Spokane Fire Department Chief Brian Schaeffer.