Tuesday, Oct 9, 2007
On October 1st, ranger Chad Coles came upon a Dodge van parked in the Doors and Windows parking lot. Since the van was not displaying any registration, Coles contacted the driver, Robert Lee White Mountain. While talking to him, Coles noted that the van was occupied by the driver, two passengers and four dogs, including three pit bulls. During his investigation, Coles learned that White Mountain had an active warrant out for his arrest. Meanwhile, one of the other occupants of the van took out a digital recorder and began filming Coles. All of them began yelling at Coles, telling him that he had no authority or jurisdiction and that they were not accountable to the laws of the United States. Coles returned to his cruiser and requested assistance. When rangers and South Dakota Highway Patrol officers arrived, White Mountain was taken into custody without incident. As rangers returned to the van to speak with the passengers, the pit bulls became excited, barking and growling menacingly. One of the passengers warned the rangers that the dogs were not friendly. A routine computer check on the front passenger – Robert Timothy White Mountain – revealed that he, too, had outstanding warrants against him. He was asked to step out of the van and was also arrested without incident. The second passenger – Patrick White Mountain – appeared extremely nervous when rangers asked him to leash the dogs and get out of the vehicle. He suddenly jumped into the driver’s seat and started the engine, but it quit as he was trying to get it into gear. Rangers told him that he was under arrest and ordered him out of the van. He instead started it up again and was about to drive away when a highway patrol officer jumped in through the open front passenger door and turned the engine off. White Mountain then returned to the main passenger compartment of the van and put leashes on the dogs. When he opened the sliding door, the dogs were pulling on their leashes. White Mountain then opened his hands and dropped the leashes and the pit bulls jumped out. One of them immediately attacked ranger Vincent Littlewhiteman. White Mountain grabbed a black bag and ran out of the vehicle towards the badland formations to the east. With one of the pit bulls, he jumped down a 10 to 15-foot cliff and climbed into the rugged crevasses below. When Coles pursued, another pit bull attacked him, causing Coles to fall to the ground due to the savagery of the attack. Coles got to his feet and fired two rounds at the dog when it attacked again. Indications were that White Mountain had a handgun with him, so additional rangers and officers were brought in from Mount Rushmore, the South Dakota Highway Patrol, and the Oglala Tribal Police. While a tactical team was assembled, a hasty search was conducted from a South Dakota Highway Patrol helicopter. The tactical team then repelled into the ravines and crevasses east of the parking lot and began searching for White Mountain. They almost immediately recovered about a half kilo of marijuana, and found White Mountain after a search of nearly three hours duration. He was found just outside the park, walking southeast toward the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, by tribal officers. He was taken into custody without incident. Narcotics and a .38 caliber handgun were recovered in a search incident to the arrest. Coles and Littlewhiteman, who suffered only minor injuries, were treated by Kadoka Ambulance medical personnel and released. All three of the White Mountains were taken to the Pennington County jail and are to be charged federally for narcotics and weapons violations and for assaulting federal law enforcement officers.
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