Family grieves a son following his suicide
Published 4:00 am Saturday, January 28, 2006
When Ron Hanson buries his 24-year-old son today, he will recall the former Mountain View High School track star’s athletic achievements.
He will remember how Nick, who had trouble sleeping as a child, played with a flashlight he kept hidden in his pillowcase after bedtime.
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And he will remember this past Sunday, when his son called from Ashland, told his father he loved him and then ended his own life.
”He just said, he couldn’t do it anymore,” Ron Hanson said.
Nicholas Ryan Hanson, a two-time All-American track athlete at Southern Oregon University, died Sunday after consuming sleeping pills, according to Jackson County authorities. A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. today at Trinity Episcopal Church in Bend.
Ashland police went to Hanson’s apartment Sunday night after his family in Bend called emergency dispatchers to report that he was suicidal, according to Jackson County Sheriff’s Detective Dan Hobbs.
When officers tried to approach Hanson, he became combative and threatened them, Hobbs said.
They subdued him with a Taser stun gun and called an ambulance, but Hanson died on the way to Rogue Valley Medical Center in Medford, Hobbs said.
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Based on information from an autopsy and from medicine packaging found at Hanson’s apartment, investigators suspect he drank liquid collected from gelatin sleeping capsules.
An autopsy points to an overdose of sleeping capsules – rather than the jolt from the Taser – as the cause of death.
The autopsy, conducted by Dr. James Olson, a deputy state medical examiner, found that Hanson would have died immediately if the stun gun’s electric shock had been the cause, according to Hobbs.
”(Olson) ruled out the Taser as a cause of death,” Hobbs said.
Sitting in a living room adorned with pictures of his son, Ron Hanson said he has concerns about the way the case was handled.
”We’re grieving our son but there are some real important questions that need to be answered,” Ron Hanson said.
Hanson questioned the use of the Taser on an unarmed man.
”Can’t three policemen subdue a 160-pound kid without a Taser?” Ron Hanson said. ”I realize it’s tough being a policeman, but gosh the guy’s suicidal, shouldn’t you just hold on to him and talk to him?”
In addition, Hanson said he thinks his son should have been taken to Ashland Community Hospital. That’s where he was taken in 2004 after a previous suicide attempt, Nick’s first, his father said.
Instead, authorities took Nick Hanson to Rogue Valley Medical Center in Medford – a farther distance. Hanson thinks his son may have survived if he’d gotten to the hospital sooner.
Calls to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and Jackson County medical examiner weren’t returned on Friday.
The final results of toxicology tests will not be complete for weeks. After that, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department is to report on the case to the district attorney.
Police reports regarding the incident won’t be made available for at least two weeks, according to Jackson County District Attorney Mark Huddleston. He said he would need to review the reports before releasing them.
”The issue would be whether we are going to do any particular review on the deputy who was called out to the scene,” Huddleston said. ”If there aren’t any charges, and I don’t anticipate there will be, against those officers, then the records will become public.”
Nick was born in Sao Paulo Brazil on May 20, 1981. His birth name was Edinaldo Miranda.
He lived in two orphanages before he was adopted by a family in Portland. That match didn’t work out, and he was brought into the Hanson family in Bend three days before Christmas in 1989, at the age of 8, said Ron Hanson, who owns a wholesale lumber company.
Nick struggled with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, and with controlling his anger, his family said. But medications helped.
At Mountain View, he went out for track as a freshman. He started the season jumping 5feet, and at the end of the year he was clearing 6 feet 2 inches.
”Nick was a different breed of athlete than any I’ve ever coached,” said Dave Turnbull, his coach at Mountain View. ”He was extremely competitive but with me he didn’t show an extreme amount of emotion.”
Nick earned a scholarship at Boise State University as a walk-on, but left after two years. He transferred to Southern Oregon University in Ashland, where he began competing in the triple jump.
Hanson achieved the second longest triple jump in school history – 49 feet, 5 inches. As a member of the Raiders’ track squad, he earned All-American status for the triple jump in 2004 and 2005.
College presented tough academic challenges for Nick, his father said. He had just failed a test when he called his father on Sunday and said he wanted to kill himself.
”Nick wanted to take his life because he was an overachiever,” said his father. ”School was very tough for him.”
Hanson’s family did the right thing by contacting authorities, said Don Hartsough, a retired clinical psychologist who lives in Bend.
Hartsough, who also worked as a hostage negotiator in Indianapolis, commented on the case after being told details by The Bulletin.
”One of the reasons why people commit suicide is that they just don’t see any more options open,” Hartsough said. ”They just feel that life is closing in on them.”
Turnbull, who coached Nick Hanson at Mountain View, remembers a dedicated athlete.
He was so committed he would jump up Pilot Butte every three or four weeks as part of his training – an exhaustive method Turnbull calls the ”1,000-bound workout.”
The athlete and his coach left deep impressions on each other.
Turnbull was the greatest influence on Nick Hanson after his father and mother, Joni, the family said.
Nick Hanson left a lasting legacy on Turnbull as well. Turnbull said he adopted two black children of his own because of Hanson’s influence.
”I’ve got a picture of him holding my daughter,” Turnbull said. ”He had this warm spirit, he was just gentle.”