A man died from his injuries Friday after he was found underwater in the Deschutes River at the Bend Whitewater Park the day before.
First responders carry Joseph Clarence Torkelson to an ambulance after he was found underwater in the Deschutes River on July 21, 2022.
Joni Land, Joni Land / OPB
First responders performed CPR on 56-year-old Joseph Clarence Torkelson Thursday afternoon for more than 10 minutes after a kayaker rescued him from a turbulent area below a dam at the Colorado Avenue Bridge. Torkelson was admitted into the intensive care unit at St. Charles Bend.
He got in the river upstream to float with a roommate, officials said, but then he veered into an area that is marked as dangerous.
“Instead of staying to the left to ride through the gentle rapids at Colorado Avenue, Torkelson somehow ended up on the wrong side of the buoys and was sucked under and through the dam,” according to a press release from the Bend Police Department.
A person standing on the bridge noticed Torkelson in the water below the bridge and directed a kayaker to him.
The Colorado Avenue bridge was briefly closed. The whitewater park remained open.
Friday evening, police confirmed that Torkelson died from his injuries.
In April, 17-year-old Ben Murphy died after being trapped underwater at the park’s popular surfing wave. After his death, park officials closed the wave for months and implemented safety changes.
A view from the Colorado Avenue bridge in Bend shortly after a passerby spotted an unresponsive man underwater, July 21, 2022.
Joni Land / OPB