The National Park Service is wrapping up its investigation into a deadly rock slide at Lassen Volcanic National Park last summer that killed a 9-year-old Red Bluff boy. His family has chosen not to speak on camera about the deadly accident, until now. Tom and Jennifer Botell are breaking their silence, telling Action News in an exclusive interview, what happened the day their son died, and how they want to prevent this from happening to anyone else.
Tommy Botell was an all-American boy, a cub scout who liked to explore nature with his family. His mother Jennifer said "Tommy was kind, sweet, a friend to everyone he met"
In July 2009, Tommy, his parents and two sisters headed up the 2.5 mile trail to Lassen Peak. It's a hike thousands of people make every year because you don't have to be an experienced climber. The Botell family had made the trip twice before. Tom Botell told Action News, "it's just a beautiful site, the kids loved it." During their hike, near the top of the 2.5 mile trail, on the switchbacks near 10-thousand feet, Tommy and his sister Katrina sat on a 3-foot rock retaining wall.
Tom Botello "that's where they were sitting on it, it was intact with cement and rocks, it came rolling forward, and caught Tommy by the foot, and rolled right over him and threw Katrina forward. It rolled right over him like a bench, it rolled down the hill, he was in the middle he got the full brunt of it." Tommy was killed within moments, Katrina suffered major injuries to her face and head and was bleeding profusely. Other hikers ran to call for help.
Jennifer Botell says the emergency response was too slow, taking more than three hours for a helicopter to reach them and get Katrina to the hospital. "My son died instantaneously, we had to sit with him 3.5 hours, my daughter's head was in my hands and I think there should have been a quicker response. Our son died, and there's nothing anyone can do about it, but we can stop it from happening to other families, they've got to look after their trails, they've got to know their trails. They've got to have first response training, they have to have drills."
Tommy is being remembered in many ways, including a county basketball tournament re-named in his honor. The Tommy Botell Memorial Tournament will be held in February. The Red Bluff community pitched in with car washes and other fundraisers to help the Botells pay the 18-thousand dollars in medical and funeral expenses not covered by insurance. Jennifer Botell said "You cannot sue the National Park Service, we've been told there's nothing we can do, they won't help us with medical expenses, there's nothing you can do."
But could this accident have been prevented? We asked the National Park Service if the trail was safe on the day the accident happened. Karen Haner, spokesperson for Lassen Volcanic National Park said "I can't answer that question. We believe it was in condition that it could be open to the public."
Coming up Friday night in part two of our special report "Danger on the Mountain", you'll hear more from the park service about the need for repairs on the trail. And hear from a woman who tried to warn rangers about poor conditions on that same path, five days before Tommy was killed. If you'd like to read more about Tommy Botell and his memorial fundraiser for the boy scouts, you can visit a website in his memory, called Tommy's Place. You can find it by clicking on News Links in the left margin of our home page at www.knvn.com or www.khsltv.com.
