Simon Hergott, 35, seen here in a screenshot of his Youtube documentary "A Valley Destroyed."

Image Credit: YOUTUBE/Simon Hergott

The man under investigation for allegedly disrupting a Mount Paul paraglider rescue was already known by search and rescue crews for assaulting one of their team members.

Simon Hergott, 35, climbed to the top where rescuers were heading to rescue a paraglider from the cliffside in the Sun Rivers area before he was arrested.

In January 2021, Hergott punched Jeremy Markel at Kenna Cartwright Park, believing Markel got him in "trouble" with Transport Canada over his use of a drone for documentary he produced last summer, according to Markel. 

Hergott pleaded guilty to the assault, but he got a conditional discharge with 12 months of probation in May.

"I was not out on the search this weekend. At the time I felt that, wow I wish I was there," Markel said. "But I wouldn't want to end up running into him."

A court order restricts Hergott from going near Markel at all, but it's unlikely he would have known whether Markel was responding. Hergott certainly would have known he was a Kamloops Search and Rescue volunteer and likely to be there.

The rescue effort lasted for hours, which was interrupted by Hergott's appearance in the process, according to Markel.

"They were concerned because he was causing a scene," Markel said. "High rope rescue is no joke."

Markel said Hergott arrived and told the rescuers they were "doing it wrong" and he was "calling them… morons." Markel said the team was pressured into "dropping safety protocols."

iNFOnews.ca verified Markel's version of events with another search and rescue team member who was at the scene.

Kamloops RCMP said in a statement earlier this week that a 35-year-old man was arrested at the rescue scene on Nov. 13. He was behaving in an "abusive" manner and being "belligerent" toward Kamloops Search and Rescue members, according to police.

Police said the man was later released, but an investigation is ongoing. It's not clear what specific crime is being investigated.

Kamloops Search and Rescue search manager Alan Hobler told iNFOnews.ca that any member of the public inserting themselves into rescue efforts can put the team and the subject at risk.

"This is the first time I've had a civilian jump in and put themselves into operations," Hobler said. He wouldn't provide details about the incident, however.

A paraglider was injured and stranded on a Tk'emlups cliffside for hours as search and rescue crews tried to pull him from danger, Nov. 14, 2022. A twelve-person military crew flew a night-certified helicopter from Comox to help with rescue efforts.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Kamloops Search and Rescue

"We have an order of priority of who we respond to," Hobler said. "When members come in, especially in hazardous situations, we have to shift from the subject to the member of the public."

The order is first, as a search and rescue member, to protect yourself, he said. Then the priority is to protect the rest of the team, any nearby members of the public, then rescue the subject.

iNFOnews.ca also reached out to Hergott, but he refused an opportunity be interviewed about the Mount Paul incident.

"You mean you guys are planning to smear somebody?" he asked, before ending the phone call.

Hergott is a videographer and has posted videos of himself paragliding in the Kamloops area, including from Mount Paul, along with other places in B.C.

One of his videos, a documentary titled A Valley Destroyed was at the root of why he assaulted Markel in January 2021. The documentary focused on the B.C. Wildfire response to the White Rock Lake wildfire near Monte Lake, criticizing the B.C. government and the wildfire service for its response.

It wasn't the content of the documentary that got Hergott in hot water. Instead, Markel said Hergott was frustrated about getting into "trouble" with Transport Canada for using a drone in an active wildfire.

Hergott believed Markel reported him.

"The thing is, I actually never reported him to Transport Canada," Markel said, adding that he did get a call from Transport Canada about its investigation.

It's not clear exactly what kind of "trouble" Hergott found himself in with Transport Canada.

Although Hergott wouldn't comment to iNFOnews.ca, after a phone call and an email, he published a video to YouTube and linked it to a written statement online. He refused an interview, but the statement details his version of events.

In the brief video, he explains that there's been "missing information in reporting from RCMP and search and rescue."

He explained he met the paraglider in Sun Rivers just hours before the accident and made plans to paraglide together in the future.

"At 6:07 I was alerted by my friend in Sun Rivers of the potential incident. I immediately knew it was him so I hurried to Mount Paul and ran up the mountain as fast as I could. I was expecting to run into (search and rescue) but I did not," the statement reads. "I made my way to him and assessed his condition to the best of my abilities and determined there was no extricating him on my own."

He said he tried to impress upon search and rescue they needed to be fast because the man was getting cold and his pain was worsening. He claims he helped them carry equipment up the mountain and tried to direct the team on the best route to go that would avoid sending rocks down to the injured man.

"I was very frustrated. They finally listened to me and we made our way to my route," he said.

Hergott told the rescue team that the injured man, whom he said was named Quintin, would need a stretcher and to be lowered from his current spot before a helicopter could retrieve him. The team"disregarded" his input, he said.

"It was not easy to witness the young man I met hours earlier, in the pain he was in. He was made as comfortable as he could be made and then that is when the (search and rescue) team said that in order to have him heli-lifted, myself and the other bystander needed to leave," Hergott said.

"I wished Quintin the best and told him to call me when he was better. Only one of the (search and rescue) team members thanked me for my help, as did Quintin and then we made our way back down, with myself carrying his glider."

While Hergott's frustration is apparent in his version of the incident, it doesn't appear he appreciated the concerns expressed by the search and rescue team.

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