Union County District Attorney recounts rescue of two girls at Phillips Reservoir
By Joe Hathaway on Friday, July 12th, 2024 in Northeastern Oregon News
BAKER COUNTY — What should have been a nice and normal weekend day for Kelsie McDaniel was anything but.
McDaniel, the District Attorney of Union County, was enjoying a relaxing summer evening with her family on their boat at Phillips Reservoir in Baker County on Saturday, July 6, when the situation turned harrowing.
“My husband heard a wave runner make a strange sound and what stood out to us was that we could see the wave runner still going, but the girls were in the water. They looked like they were in trouble,” said McDaniel.
According to the Baker County Sheriff’s Office, a 14-year-old and a 12-year-old girl were both riding on one jet ski when it crashed.
Upon reaching the girls after the jet ski crash, the McDaniels found one of them in and out of consciousness while the other was frantically waving for help. They lifted the girls on their boat, and McDaniel called 911. Her husband retrieved the runaway wave runner while McDaniel drove the boat with the girls to the shoreline.
“I just talked to the girl who was in and out of consciousness to try and keep her awake and followed the instructions of the 911 dispatcher,” said McDaniel. “The main concern was that she had passed out in the water and had taken on water.”
McDaniel continued to wait with the girls once they returned to shore until the girls’ families and emergency responders arrived. The girl with the head injury was airlifted to a regional hospital, while the other was safely reunited with her family.
The Baker County Sheriff’s Office and McDaniel both said the girls were wearing life jackets, which most likely saved their lives.
“The thing that stands out to me was that afterward, my daughter told me, ‘Now I get why you always make us wear life jackets,’” McDaniel said. “This would have been a completely different story if those girls hadn’t been wearing life jackets.”
The Sheriff’s Office says the cause of the jet ski crash remains under investigation.
