PL climber describes tree-top struggle
By John Driscoll The Times-Standard
Article Last Updated: Thursday, April 21, 2005 - 6:12:34 AM PST
A preliminary hearing in a felony assault case began Wednesday with testimony from a tree climber whose gear was allegedly tampered with during a struggle with an activist 200 feet up a redwood tree.
Eric Schatz, a tree climber contracted with Pacific Lumber Co. to remove tree-sitters, told how Ramsey Noah Gifford grabbed at his climbing gear during the precarious wrestling match in April 2003.
Under questioning by Assistant District Attorney Tim Stoen, Schatz said Gifford had climbed the tree without safety gear while Schatz was attempting to remove tree-sitter John Poshman from a tree on Greenwood Heights Road.
The spring of 2003 saw repeated protests in the Freshwater Creek area, and Schatz removed several tree-sitters protesting Palco logging of the watershed. In his entire experience, Schatz said he'd removed 46 tree-sitters without loss of life.
Schatz said Gifford had leapt from an adjacent tree to the tree the tree-sit platform was in, evading Schatz's other climber, an act he described as "insane." He later said he personally did not see the jump.
Gifford then climbed up through a hole in the platform and began climbing toward an anchor point for Schatz's rope 30 feet up, Schatz said.
Schatz said he grabbed Gifford around the waist, attempting to secure him because he had no safety equipment, which made Schatz believe Gifford had no concern for his life.
"He certainly didn't have any regard for ours," Schatz said, to the defense's objection.
In the struggle, Schatz was assisted by fellow climber Jerry Berghagen, who was knocked to the platform by Gifford, Schatz said. Schatz also said he braced himself to avoid falling off the platform. While secured by a rope at the time, Schatz said a 3-foot fall caught by a harness could separate one's pelvis from one's spine.
Schatz said Gifford yelled "suicide" twice, then dove down the hole in the platform. Schatz said he held onto Gifford until Berghagen could help and Schatz could use webbing to secure the activist.
The felony assault charge stems from Gifford's alleged tampering with Schatz's climbing belt. He also said Gifford incidentally knocked off his helmet and glasses during the struggle, which lasted nearly an hour.
When his other climber, Michael Oxman, came back up the tree, Schatz said they were able to zip-tie Gifford's hands and feet, put him in a harness and bring him to the ground.
Under questioning by one of Gifford's attorneys, Omar Figueroa, Schatz explained in detail his tree-climbing equipment. After Gifford dove down the hole in the platform, he reached up and deliberately grabbed at the center of Schatz's belt to unhook the rope that secured him to the tree, Schatz said.
Schatz said he saw Gifford make the move with his peripheral vision, and slapped away Gifford's hand on more than one occasion. Schatz said things were moving fast.
"I didn't give him that much of a chance," he said.
Schatz, who used a helmet-mounted camera to record parts of the operation, said he did not have it turned on during the beginning of the struggle. He said the operation was going smoothly before Gifford climbed the tree, and that he didn't think to turn the camera on when his ground crew radioed that an activist was ascending the redwood.
Figueroa also delved into Schatz's training for such operations. Schatz said he was certified in "high-angle rope rescue" by an organization called Rescue 3 International. That group also trains search-and-rescue workers, and police and fire workers. He said he couldn't remember if he, or Palco, paid for him and his 12-man crew to be certified.
Figueroa is expected to show video of the operation today, which he said shows Gifford acted in self-defense.
Judge John Feeney is presiding over the preliminary hearing.
In all, the hearing is expected to last nine hours after which Feeney will decide whether the case should go to trial.
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