Bizarre River Raft Death Prompts Charges

A 19-year-old Thousand Oaks man has been indicted in the death of a woman killed last month when he jumped off a 100-foot cliff and landed on her as she floated on a raft down the Salt River near Phoenix, authorities said.

Adam Shimer faces a July 31 arraignment on one count each of manslaughter and endangerment stemming from the death June 7 of 25-year-old Karen Jo Curtis of Scottsdale, Ariz., who was on a rubber raft with her boyfriend when Shimer landed on her, according to Sylvia Lopez, a spokeswoman for the Maricopa County attorney’s office.

Maricopa County Sheriff’s Cpl. Jay Ellison said Curtis died instantly of a broken neck and internal injuries. The boyfriend, who was not identified, was not injured.

The area where the accident occurred has caused problems because of people leaping off the steep embankments, ranging from 30 to more than 100 feet high, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Tom Brice.

“We’ve had drownings and a lot of broken necks and other injuries from people who like to leap off the cliffs and see how close they can come” to people on rafts, Brice said. “We’ve had ‘no jumping’ signs posted along there, but they’re constantly disregarded.

“We’ve even had deputies patrol areas where people jump and, on occasion, they have to resort to hand-to-hand combat to keep people from jumping in. You can’t imagine what it’s like until you’ve seen it yourself.”

Shimer, who had gone to a spot along the river known as Mud Cliff with friends to celebrate their graduation from nearby University Technical Institute, said he thought the river was clear when he leaped off the cliff.

Shimer suffered a broken ankle and back injuries in the fall and momentarily lost consciousness. He said he did not realize he had landed on a woman until he was pulled out of the water several yards downriver.

“I’m still shook up about it,” Shimer said Tuesday in a telephone interview from his home. “I can’t change what happened. I’ll just have to go through with it as best I can.”

Brice said Shimer “was with a fairly clean-cut bunch of guys” and had not been drinking when he leaped off the cliff, falling at 55 m.p.h. when he struck Curtis.

The cliff jutted out at the point where Shimer leaped and he could not see the water below, according to Brice, who said the spot was not posted.

Shimer will be allowed to remain free without bail pending his arraignment on the charges in Maricopa County Superior Court, Lopez said.