Baker County District Attorney Matt Shirtcliff was just 50 yards or so away when he heard people screaming during the Miners Jubilee parade July 15.

Shirtcliff, who was participating in the parade, ran north on Second Street, toward the noise.

Dylan Scott Thomas, a 7-year-old Baker City boy who slipped and fell between the tire and the trailer he was riding on, died later at the hospital.

Shirtcliff said that when he realized the severity of the accident he summoned the Baker County Major Crime Team.

Some didn’t have to travel far, as they, like Shirtcliff, were participating in a parade that has been a favorite community event for more than three decades.

Although it quickly become apparent to Shirtcliff that Dylan’s tragic death was an accident rather than a crime, he said the team, which includes officers from the Baker City Police Department, Baker County Sheriff’s Office and Oregon State Police, can play a vital role even in situations that don’t involve a crime.

“I felt like we needed more resources at the scene,” Shirtcliff said on Friday. “There was so much to be done.”

The tasks included managing the crowds of parade participants and spectators so police could preserve the scene, interviewing the driver of the truck hauling the trailer on which Dylan and several other children were riding, and calling parents of other children to let them know what had happened.

In effect, the Major Crime Team played the role of a “critical response team,” Shirtcliff said.

“It was a really difficult situation,” he said.

Baker City Police Chief Wyn Lohner was also in the parade. He was driving a police vehicle with his two grandsons when he heard about the accident on his radio.

Lohner said he asked 9-1-1 dispatchers to activate the Baker County Public Safety Chaplaincy program — a program Lohner himself started after he was promoted from police sergeant to commander in 2004.

The program, which Lohner modeled after one in Central Oregon, is designed to ensure that police officers, firefighters and other public safety officers, who inevitably deal with traumatic situations, have a thoughtful person to talk with after difficult cases.

Lohner, who has been police chief since May 2006, said the response to the call was gratifying.

Many clergy members — some of them not currently involved in the chaplaincy program — arrived within minutes.

And they assisted not only public safety officers, but also many of the parade spectators who were deeply affected by the accident, Lohner said.

“They were just there to help, and people needed that support,” he said. “They needed that comfort.”

While Lohner worked to coordinate the efforts of local clergy, he said Sheriff Travis Ash rushed to bring in mental health counselors from Total Health, an organization that’s part of New Directions Northwest.

“The sheriff was a tremendous help,” Lohner said.

Shirtcliff said he was impressed by the efforts of the clergy and the counselors, all of whom moved to the County Courthouse, just a block from the accident site. The Courthouse, which was opened to provide restrooms for people, became the center of what amounted to a relief effort that culminated in a candlelight vigil that evening.

Shirtcliff also lauded the efforts of Heidi Dalton, CEO of the Baker County YMCA, which sponsored the float on which Dylan was riding. Dalton helped organize the quick response to deal with the complexities of a shocking event that so many people watched happen, Shirtcliff said.

“She did a really good job,” he said of Dalton.

Pastor Dave Deputy of the Calvary Baptist Church said he was working on his broken pickup truck during the parade when his wife, Ali, telephoned to tell him about the accident.

Ali Deputy works at Total Health.

Dave Deputy said that when he arrived at the accident scene, several other local clergy members were already helping to comfort parade spectators, emergency responders and others.

“I think it was needed,” Deputy said. “People had experienced things they’d never seen before, and they needed to talk to someone.”

He believes the combined efforts of counselors and clergy served the community’s needs well on that terrible Saturday.

“I think there was someone from almost every church in town,” Deputy said. “It was pretty impressive.”

See more in the July 28, 2017, issue of the Baker City Herald.