Apparent #NoDAPL Protester Found Dead in River Near Former Site of Protest Camps
Signs hang in the Dakota Access Pipeline protest camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S., January 24, 2017. REUTERS/Terray Sylvester
Some very sad news out of Morton County today.
“The Morton County Sheriff’s Department responded to a 9-1-1 call of a body floating near the shoreline of the mouth of the Cannonball River yesterday,” a press release from the county states. “Authorities transported the deceased male to the ND Medical Examiner’s office in Bismarck where an autopsy was conducted this morning.”
[mks_pullquote align=”right” width=”300″ size=”24″ bg_color=”#ffffff” txt_color=”#000000″]”The cause of death is still pending, and authorities are unsure how long the body was in the river,” the release states.[/mks_pullquote]
The man was identified as Damjan Nedelkovski, 35, of Glendale, California. His family had last had contact with him in October of last year, and in November the filed a missing person’s report.
He was known to have been at the protest camps. “The cause of death is still pending, and authorities are unsure how long the body was in the river,” the release states.
Very sad news. Thanks to the professionalism of law enforcement we were able to make it through the worst of the #NoDAPL protests without any deaths. At least not from direct protest activities.
Remember we had some brutal winter weather during the protests. With thousands of people camping outside, many of them not familiar with the dangers of winter in North Dakota, the silver lining (if there can be said to be one) is perhaps that there’s just one dead.
UPDATE: Morton County also sends along this photo of the deceased. They’re asking anyone with information about the man to call them at 701-667-3330.
Here’s the full release:
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