Disabled skydiver had done 125 jumps

A 27-year-old quadriplegic man was identified as the victim of Saturday’s fatal skydiving accident near Marion.

Zach Fogle of Kingston, Wash., died when his parachute failed to open during a jump at the Lost Prairie Boogie, according to Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry.

Fogle was a licensed skydiver with approximately five years of experience and more than 125 jumps, including previous jumps at Lost Prairie.

He was a quadriplegic with limited mobility or function in his arms and legs, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Curry said Fogle’s disability was due to a neck injury he suffered in an automobile accident.

Undersheriff Jordan White said Fogle had a custom-built parachute and also rode a custom-built motorcycle, according to The Associated Press.

“I met him [Fogle] last year when he was at the event,” said Fred Sand, owner of the Skydive Lost Prairie skydiving school. “I know that he could get around really well. He was mobile. I would not recognize that he had problems with his arms because he could use his walking sticks.”

While Sand’s operation did tandem jumps with newcomers to the sport, the Lost Prairie Boogie was managed this year for the first time by Meadow Peak Skydiving.

Meadow Peak owner Wayne Cross had no comment about Fogle or the incident.

Fogle had failed to manually deploy his primary or emergency parachutes after leaving the airplane, Curry said in a news release. “The investigation indicates that the emergency deployment mechanism that would have released Fogle’s emergency parachute as a fail-safe mechanism had not been properly activated prior to the jump.”

The incident was investigated by the Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Parachute Association and Federal Aviation Administration.

According to Curry, the investigation indicated appropriate safety procedures and policies were in place and had been followed before and after the incident.

The nationally recognized Lost Prairie Boogie attracts hundreds of jumpers every summer. A skydiver was killed at last year’s event as well. Garl “Mike” Newby, 57, of Colorado Springs, Colo., died after his main parachute got tangled with another skydiver’s parachute. Newby was able to remove his main chute but did not have time to deploy his reserve chute.

The 2011 skydiving event concluded Monday.

The Kitsap Sun reported Monday that Fogle graduated from North Kitsap High School in 2002 and previously attended Wolfle Elementary and Kingston Middle School, according to Robyn Chastain, North Kitsap School District spokeswoman.