Investigative Report of National Park Service Possible Destruction Of Evidence

The Office of Inspector General has completed an investigation into allegations of misconduct by employees at the National Park Service’s (NPS) Lassen Volcanic National Park (LAVO), who allegedly failed to preserve evidence and violated NPS policy following the 2009 fatality of a 9-year-old boy. In September 2014, we received an inquiry from Congresswoman Jackie Speier, U.S. Representative for California's 14th Congressional District, requesting our assistance with resolving allegations surrounding the 2009 fatality the 9-year-old boy at LAVO. 

   

According to the allegations, the LAVO park rangers’ decision to conduct an “in-house” fatality investigation after allegedly dismissing NPS’ Investigative Services Bureau (ISB) investigators was a violation of NPS policy and also compromised ISB’s investigation by delaying its involvement. Further, LAVO staff allegedly violated NPS policy by failing to make the appropriate fatality notifications, file the proper documents, and convene a post-incident board. Our investigation revealed that several of the claims referred to or cited policies and forms that had been superseded, replaced, or were no longer in circulation at the time of the fatal accident. Certain procedural aspects of NPS policy were not followed, but these actions did not appear to alter the outcome of NPS’ investigation. 

 

In addition, the complaint alleged that NPS staff, LAVO staff, and the U.S. Department of the Interior Regional Solicitor failed to act accordingly after they were contacted by the family’s lawyer in August 2009. They allegedly failed to issue preservation or litigation holds to preserve incident- and trail-related documentation related to the fatality. In addition, LAVO staff allegedly shredded relevant documents that were requested during the production and discovery period of the lawsuit. Our investigation determined these actions were not intentional and stemmed from miscommunications between LAVO staff. Our investigation did not corroborate the allegations.   

 

We briefed Congresswoman Speier’s staff on the results of our investigation and referred our findings to the NPS Director for appropriate action.