Law student wanted to get picture of waterfall. He slipped — and hasn’t been found yet

Authorities are searching for a UC Berkeley law student that fell when he was trying to take a picture from above a waterfall in Oregon on Sunday, according to a news release from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

Officials said the man, identified as 23-year-old Brian Lewinstein, fell down a cliff at Toketee Falls, about 58 miles east of Roseburg.

“Lewinstein had crossed a safety fence to take a photograph from above the falls when he slipped and fell down the steep embankment,” according to the sheriff’s office release.

A spokeswoman for the Umpqua National Forest told SFGate that Lewinstein is believed to be dead.

“My understanding is that it was a fatality,” Cheryl Caplan, the spokeswoman, told SFGate. “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.”

Lewinstein was supposed to begin his second year of law school this fall, with an expected graduation in May 2020, Berkeley School of Law spokesman Michael Bazeley told CBS San Francisco. Bazeley said Lewinstein was “an intern in juvenile defense at the East Bay Community Law Center in Berkeley,” CBS San Francisco reported.

“He was very interested in pursuing a career working with youth in the future. He really seemed like he wanted to help people,” Tony Cheng, the director of the center’s youth defender clinic, told SFGate.

Grief counselors were at the law school on Tuesday, CBS reported.

“People get quite intrigued by water and always want a better photo,” Caplan told SFGate. “Our hearts are broken over this.”

This story was originally published August 14, 2018 at 3:16 PM with the headline "Law student wanted to get picture of waterfall. He slipped — and hasn’t been found yet."