Dead man identified as missing Moscow official

Wed., Aug. 1, 2007

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

THE DALLES, Ore. – A body found in the Columbia River was that of an Idaho man who may have leaped into the darkness to avoid being struck on an interstate highway, not knowing he was going over the railing of a bridge.

John Dickinson, 62, had been missing since Jan. 7.

His body was found Thursday in the Columbia River, near its confluence with the John Day River.

It was identified by the Gilliam County medical examiner, Dr. Bruce Carlson, the Oregon State Police said Tuesday.

Dickinson, a City Council member in Moscow, Idaho, stopped his car on the Interstate 84 bridge east of The Dalles on a Sunday evening and offered help to the driver of a car that had gone out of control, the police said.

But a third vehicle struck his car from behind, the police said.

Investigators at the time said he may have fallen or he may have leaped over the bridge to avoid getting hit.

The water 35 feet below in the John Day was about 40 degrees and 80 feet deep, investigators said at the time.

The bridge railing is solid concrete and is about 3 1/2 feet high, the state police said.

Dickinson died of “traumatic injuries and drowning,” Carlson ruled.

Police relayed a statement from Dickinson’s family: “The family is planning a memorial service for a date to-be-determined. We greatly appreciate the outpouring of sympathy and support we have received.”

Dickinson’s position on the Moscow City Council has remained open since his disappearance.

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