Close Knit Group
Traffic deaths near Pacific City affect close-knit group
A Longview couple die when hit by the SUV of a Hebo man who also was killed; a passenger survives
Tuesday, August 12, 2008 LORI TOBIAS
The Oregonian Staff
Charlain Engels and her family were camping at Riverview Lodge early Saturday when they woke to the sound of squealing tires. They braced for the sound of breaking glass and crunching metal, but it never came.
What they heard instead was a sort of blunt impact, and moments later, screams for help. The couple ran outside. Resort Drive two miles southeast of Pacific City was dark and empty, the Nestucca River barely moving.
"It was this very serene area and there were these headlights in the water," Engels recalled Monday, still shaken. "My husband jumped in the river and he was trying to retrieve the driver, but he couldn't even get to the car. He tried, he tried, he tried."
Moments later came the sirens and the discovery of the bodies of Zachary Waddle , 25, and Libby Davis, 26, parents from Longview who'd taken a weekend away to enjoy the camaraderie of fellow jet ski riders.
The SUV struck and killed the pair near Riverview Lodge as they stood near the road trying to settle what friends called a lover's quarrel. The Chevrolet Trailblazer landed in the river, killing its driver, James Hernandez, 22, of Hebo. A passenger, Charles Green, 22, also of Hebo, was able to escape from the vehicle.
The accident is still under investigation, but speed and alcohol were a factor, said Tillamook County Sheriff Todd Anderson.
Worldwide competitor
It was supposed to be a weekend of fun and high adventure in the surf. Waddle was a top free rider who competed worldwide in the sport that calls for jet ski riders to perform their best moves in pounding ocean surf.
Saturday was the annual Blowsion Beach Party in Pacific City for the close-knit community of free riders and their families. Waddle and Davis had taken advantage of her parents' offer to baby-sit their 11-month-old son, Mason, so they could go.
"I was with Zach 10 hours Friday," said Scott Swanson of Portland. "We rode three hours in the surf. He rode so hard and rode so well . . . whenever everyone else complained about the surf, Zach rode it as hard as he could. He loved being salty, loved getting wet."
After a full day at the beach, many of the group gathered at Los Caporales Mexican Restaurant in Pacific City, which closed its doors for the group's party, Swanson said. Later, they moved to another tavern and then another. But the drinking was moderate, Swanson said. It was a night of eating, talking, laughter and a fair amount of walking.
"They had so much vitality in them. They were so much fun," Swanson said.
Swanson last saw the pair and a third friend at about 1:45 a.m. Saturday when they left to walk back to the lodge. It wasn't long after that he watched the ambulances leave Pacific City, but he wouldn't learn the victim's names until morning.
John Shmilenko, Waddle's stepfather, got the notice every parent dreads at 2:30 a.m., when Davis' mother called to say there had been a horrific crash.
The story Shmilenko has pieced together is that Hernandez and Green were part of a group of friends also out on a Friday night. The two left a Pacific City bar, then realizing they'd forgotten a wallet, returned down Resort Drive for it. Waddle and Davis were standing about 100 feet from the small hotel and well off the road, said Shmilenko.
Shmilenko said he was told that Hernandez's mother was one of the first emergency responders to reach the accident.
Waddle learned to ride jet ski as a kid growing up on a floating home in Longview, Shmilenko said. "He followed the freighters up and down by our house and would jump over their wake. "He just got better and better."
One of Waddle's surf riding sponsors, John Dady, recalled Waddle's reactions when he learned that Davis was pregnant. "He was a typical boy. Nothing was going to change him. Then the baby was born. He said, 'I think we're going to get married. This fatherhood thing is pretty cool.' "
The last time Patti Shmilenko saw her only son was Wednesday, when she met Waddle and his son for a half hour at a baby swimming class at the Longview YMCA, said Shmilenko.
"Zach always hugged her and said he loved her, but that day he hugged her twice. He'd never done that before. She was very happy about that."
Lori Tobias: 541-265-9394;
loritobias@aol.com
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