UC Berkeley student slips at waterfall, feared dead

Emergency crews in southern Oregon were searching Monday for a UC Berkeley law student who slipped and fell on Sunday while trying to get a close-up picture of a waterfall in Umpqua National Forest.

Brian Lewinstein, 23, crossed a safety fence at Toketee Falls in Douglas County, Oregon, in an attempt to snap a photograph, but plummeted down an embankment, off a cliff above the falls and into the water below, authorities said.

Douglas County sheriff’s officials said search teams were still looking for Lewinstein’s body Monday afternoon, and a spokeswoman for the park said Lewinstein was presumed dead.

“My understanding is that it was a fatality. He fell a long distance into the water. It’s a pretty fast-moving stream. They’ve searched the river for him. If he were alive, I think they would have found him,” said Cheryl Caplan, spokeswoman for the Umpqua National Forest, which includes Toketee Falls. “That area is very steep, and people get quite intrigued by water and always want a better photo. Our hearts are broken over this.”

Toketee Falls, on the North Umpqua River at its confluence

“He fell a long distance water. It’s into a pretty the fast-moving stream. They’ve searched the river for him. If he were alive, I think they would have found him.” Cheryl Caplan, Umpqua National Forest spokeswoman

with the Clearwater River, is 58 miles east of Roseburg.

Lewinstein worked as an intern in juvenile defense at the East Bay Community Law Center, according to his LinkedIn account. He wrote on the page that he was interested in racial justice and civil rights law.

Tony Cheng, director of the center’s youth defender clinic, said he supervised Lewinstein’s work with juvenile offenders this summer and oversaw a project in which the law student attempted to change juvenile court policies on fees and fines.

“He was very interested in pursuing a career working with youth in the future,” said Cheng, who described Lewinstein as a friendly, amiable young man who made a lot of friends during the internship. “He really seemed like he wanted to help people.”

On the last days of his internship, Cheng said Lewinstein talked a lot about his plans to go on a road trip with his girlfriend.

“He was going to drive up and down the coast, maybe to Washington and back down,” Cheng said. “I knew they were doing a lot of camping, and he was really looking forward to that. It’s a little bit hard to process right now.”