UPDATE FROM MLPD:
The next of kin has been notified. The deceased person found in Mammoth Lakes on September 1 is:
Robert Scott Barsan
DOB: September 19, 1984 (29 years)
Residence: Reno, NV
DECEASED MAN FOUND BEHIND MAMMOTH LAKES RESIDENCE (MLPD press release)
On Monday, September 1, 2014 at approximately 6:10 a.m., Mammoth Lakes Police Officers were called in from home to respond to a partially clothed, unresponsive individual behind a residence at Pinecrest Ave in Mammoth Lakes. Upon arrival, officers found a white male, about 30 years of age and quickly determined he was deceased. There was evidence of damage to the remains consistent with animal activity. The cause of death will be determined by an autopsy to be conducted by the Orange County Coroner’s Office. Although the cause of death is unknown at this time, evidence at the scene indicated that death occurred prior to contact with any wildlife. Personnel from the California Department of Fish and Game and the Mammoth Lakes Wildlife Specialist responded to the scene and do not believe the wildlife involved pose any reason for concern in the community.
The victim has not been positively identified, but it is believed he is an individual that had contact with several local agencies in the preceding 24 hours. On Sunday, August 31 at approximately 3:30 p.m., a Mono County Sheriff’s Deputy contacted a pedestrian matching the description of the deceased north of Bridgeport. The individual was transported by a Mono County Paramedic unit to Mammoth Hospital where he was evaluated by medical staff and Mono County Behavioral Health. While at the hospital, the individual became agitated and uncooperative resulting in a request for a law enforcement response. Officers from the Mammoth Lakes Police Department and the California Highway Patrol responded and assisted in restraining the individual. The individual subsequently left the hospital voluntarily, refusing care. Because of privacy laws, the results of his evaluation cannot be released.
At approximately 1:30 a.m., Mammoth Lakes Police Officers responded to a call from the Sierra Lodge about a man in the parking lot hitting himself in the head with a fire extinguisher taken from the hotel. Officers responded and found the fire extinguisher, but the individual was gone. Surveillance video from the hotel was reviewed and it was determined that it was likely the same individual who was previously at the hospital.
The Mammoth Lakes Police Department is conducting a death investigation related to the circumstances surrounding the death. The Mono County Sheriff/Coroner’s Office is coordinating the autopsy which will determine the cause of death. Anyone having information is encouraged to contact the Mammoth Lakes Police Department at (760) 934-2011.
Discover more from Sierra Wave: Eastern Sierra News - The Community's News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Like. I’ll bet if you hired two social workers and gave them the job of keeping people out of jail, they would pay their own salaries and then some from the jail costs saved. There are plenty of jail bound people who could benefit from some help.
You are probably right. It is probably cheaper than the revolving door of jail. Sell that idea to the public. Not being snippy here, just saying. The public has to buy off on it or the Legislature won’t touch it.
Whoever thinks jail or prison-time isn’t a deterant for some (not all),what they should do is move and try to settle in a town or city that has a big drug-problem…Good example,Salem,Oregon…Maybe the ones the drug-abusers are hurting most is themselves,but the tenicles spread to many others too…family,friends,neighbors,co-workers,employers,taxing the system if they can’t or won’t work….kids,THEIR kids and others kids having to witness and deal with their behavior….drivers on the highway…many people suffer because of their choices and behavior…sometimes,all it takes FOR SOME to straighten out is a stint in jail….and then probation…for those that don’t learn a lesson from incarceration,don’t know the answer to that,but the answer isn’t to just let them run amuck and do as they please to themselves and others.
Oh please, jail time or prison time as a deterrent has shown to rarely have a effect on the one breaking the law, and better yet those that go in jail come out more of a criminal… I just wonder what the corrections facility actually think that they are correcting??
Yes there is plenty of individuals that would truly benefit from activities meant to help somebody stay out of jail, unfortunately it seems WAR and the Security Complex is the only industry USA has anymore, and “we the people” happen to be the resource..
I agree aggressive, there are so many people in jail for crimes that were really only hurting themselves it makes me sick to think of. Save the corrections dept. for the violent ones. The best thing you can do for a person who is down and out is try to help them get a job. A little hope goes a long ways.
Aggressive Progressive….A good example of what I was talking about here….Back in 1996,in Salem,Oregon,I was working the graveyard shift at a business….won’t go into what type of business,but had a customer come in,a regular,brazen enough to ask me if I had or knew of anyone with meth for sale…told him no,he went into the backroom for a couple hours,came out and asked me to call a cab for him….few minutes later,he left in the taxi…..less than an hour later,he shot,killed and robbed the taxi driver of $60.00 for his drug money….What do you suggest on that one ?….a room with a view at the mental hospital or a king-size bed at the drug-rehab center ?
“All these taxes”. Waving the BS flag on this one. Of the 36 most advanced nations in the world, those who are members of the OECD, only two have lower tax burdens as a proportion of income than the US and those are Turkey and Mexico. Japan has essentially the same overall tax burden (combined local, state and Federal revenues from all sources as a proportion of GDP) as the US, the rest have higher. We get the services we are willing to pay for. The US taxpayer doesn’t want to pay more than they do now, so they get what that tax dollar can buy. Want more? Pony up. Don’t want to raise taxes? Fine, just be satisfied with what you have now or tell me what you want to give up to have something else.
OK, I want to give up some jail beds for non violent mentally ill patients to have more treatment programs.
http://www.laweekly.com/2014-08-28/news/la-county-jail-plan-is-a-2-billion-blunder-that-embraces-incarceration-not-treatment-for-mentally-ill/
Because the taxes don’t go in areas that would give real results! (for the people)
Oh so the 21 billion that goes to profitable oil companies (yearly) is something you agree with? yeah didn’t think so…
With all these tax dollars that we see county, state and federal governments expend, how do all those services become invalid in being able to help someone when they really need it?
but then again when you see how kids in school with mental problems are just dealt with in ways that make it someones else’s problem, rather then serve the community like public servants are supposed to, in my perspective…
or how a lot of inmates have a mental condition or disorder that is a hindrance in their life… but the sad thing is it seems like society is okay with keeping their eyes closed to the facts rather then addressing them…
I understand one can do only so much for another, but I can’t seem to justify my contribution to this sick society…
all those tax’s dollars….
In an op-ed for the Sacramento Bee, Craig Lomax said that they took Linnea to a hospital where she stayed for several days before doctors felt she had shown enough progress to be released. Linnea was moved to an outpatient treatment center, but on her first day of therapy she left and never came back. She was found dead from suicide after an exhaustive 10-week search.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/03/suicide-prevention_n_5736316.html
The Lomaxes do not see their personal tragedy as an isolated incident. Citing the 3,500 deaths by suicide that occur annually in California, the Lomaxes made one simple request in their op-ed: “We want mental health professionals to have suicide prevention training.”
To that end, the Lomaxes have lent their support to a pending piece of legislation in California that would mandate suicide prevention training for all licensed mental health professionals, including psychologists, social workers and even marriage counselors. Such a requirement is startlingly rare: Only two other states have laws similar to the proposed California bill, despite evidence that suggests such training can lower rates of suicide among at-risk groups.
Sounds like he succumbed to self-inflicted blunt force trauma resulting from a fire extinguisher.
I guess better than to even try to speculate it was a black bear causing the death,like it seems the experts “looked into”….Let’s all try to remember the fact is NO PERSON has EVER been killed by a black bear in the State of California…..EVER…
Google it. There’s been 5 fatalities in California from bear attacks.
Steve…….Way to spin and twist the FACTS I stated in my post….You should work or broadcast for FOX NEWS……Let’s see….In the 1940’s a man WAS killed by a bear in California….AT THE SAN DIEGO ZOO…by a Himalayan Brown Bear…..Another….a man killed….by a CAGED,TRAINED bear used in the making of Hollywood movies….and the other 2 or 3….dated from 1830-1870…That’s EIGHTEEN-THIRTY thru EIGHTEEN-SEVENTY…..almost 200 years ago…EXPLORERS killed by the LONG EXTINCT California Grizzly Bear…..last one of those seen was in the Angeles National Forest,I think in 1911….I’ll state AGAIN….NO ONE has EVER been killed in the State of California by a Black Bear ….not at a zoo…not a trained,caged,probably abused bear used in movie-making…..a black bear….. IN THE WILD….EVER.
Bears are not native to the San Gabriel or San Bernardino Mountains. The entire population of black bears in those mountains are descendants of mischievous bears removed from Yosemite and released in the San Gabriels. There were never grizzly (brown) bears in the San Gabriels.
Desert Tortotise…..According to the book I’m looking at this minute,the last California Grizzly Bear was killed in 1895 in Riverside County….The last Tejon Grizzly Bear was seen…and killed in Tujunga Canyon,Los Angeles County,in 1916..
You are half correct and I was half wrong. While brown bears didn’t inhabit the So Cal mountains they did inhabit the coastal plains and inland valleys in sizeable numbers until humans drove them to local extinction. The last brown (grizzley) bear in So Cal was killed in the February 1908 in Orange County.
Bears were not native to the mountains of So Cal and all the black bears now living in So Cal trace their roots to a group nuisance black bears transplanted there circa 1933 from Yosemite.
Relax Wayne. I typed two short sentences, and that’s all it took to upset you. Next time you type angry, please include a video so I know my work is complete. Thanks for the laugh. 🙂
Grizzly, black or pets?
according to this article, there was at least one griz in the san gabriels–
http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/history/la-as-subject/a-brief-history-of-bears-in-the-los-angeles-area.html
Steve…Your mis-information,trying to prove me wrong, didn’t “upset” me at all….What I don’t understand is,when you yourself “googled” it,not only did you fail in trying to prove my statement wrong,but you had to have noticed what I said was BLACK BEAR’S have never killed in California….not saying the California Grizzly may have done it back in the 1800’s when California was being settled…or maybe having happened with bear-trainers or keepers at the San Diego Zoo…
Sounds like this person had a serious problem.
To “Trouble” and “Joe,” please be sensitive to what you write as there are close friends and family members of the deceased who read these comments. He was my good friend and had a good heart–he sadly had suffered some losses in his life and had a moment of weakness that sadly resulted in his death. It’s upsetting to hear someone make a bad joke about how he died or “that he had serious problems” when you don’t know the first thing about the gentleman in the story.
On another note, there are some interesting comments here. I especially like the ones about the mental-illness training and the Lomaxes. As someone who knew the deceased very well, I too wish we had better programs in place for mental illness so that less and less people will have to go through what Robert’s friends, family, and colleagues are going through with his tragic death.