Marine killed in early morning accident

A decorated U.S. Marine and trainer at the Mountain Warfare Training Center at Pickel Meadows was killed when his vehicle left the road on Highway 395 sometime early this morning.

Corp. Micah Richmond, 27, was found after a passing motorist reported seeing a black F-150 Ford pickup in the brush off the east side of the highway. The motorist told dispatchers that the pickup was empty, but appeared to have been in an accident.

Douglas County Sheriff's deputy Rick Koontz Sr. responded to check on the vehicle and after examining it determined it had been in a rollover and called for help looking for the driver.

Richmond was found about 200 feet from the vehicle where it appeared he'd been ejected as it rolled over. There didn't appear to be any passengers in the vehicle.

Sheriff's Spokesman Sgt. Jim Halsey said that earlier in the evening Marines had been drinking at Buckaroos and that investigators believe Richmond was with them.

Richmond is from Dayton, Ore., and served two tours of duty in Iraq. He'd recently gotten married.

He was a Marine mountain leadership course instructor at Pickel Meadows and had been quoted last summer in a story about revamping the course.

"Our job is to train Marines to not only survive, but to lead other Marines in harsh climates. Now that the program is much more efficient, we have the chance to become more successful at what we do," said Richmond in the article for Marines.mil written by Daniel T. Boothe. "There isn't a single Marine that will tell you that the course didn't challenge them and push them to limits that were never there before."