PENDLETON, Ore. — Community support is pouring in for the wife and baby daughter of a Umatilla County sheriff’s deputy who drowned on Saturday.
A GoFundMe campaign for the family of Senior Deputy Jason Post raised nearly $11,000 in the first seven hours. The money is going to help his wife Rosana and their baby, Dalilah.
“We lost a great friend, father, husband, brother and son,” said Ashly Lehman, a GoFundMe campaign organizer. “Jason was an amazing person and all who knew him, knew how true this was.”
Post, 34, drowned after he and three other adults were thrown from a raft during a trip to Minam State Park in Wallowa County, Ore., about 100 miles southeast of Tri-Cities.
He did not make it to shore and his body was found soon afterward, the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office said.
Umatilla County officials along with other law enforcement officers escorted the deputy’s body home to Pendleton on Saturday afternoon, where he was honored by many first responders.
Hermiston Police Department joined hundreds of others who shared their sympathies on Facebook to his family and loved ones.
“Words alone cannot express enough appreciation and gratitude for his years of selfless service and the positive impact he has brought to the many communities within Umatilla County,” Hermiston police posted. “Our hearts and prayers go out to his family, the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office, and the countless other (friends and extended family) whose lives he has been such a personal part of. He will be greatly missed.
He started with the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office as a reserve officer in 2010, and became a full-time patrol deputy in 2013. He became a field training officer and was a mentor to many of the officers on the road, according to the sheriff’s office.
Post was hired by Umatilla County Parole and Probation as a probation officer in mid-April 2021.
“He was known for his devotion to his family and he was very open about making the career change so he could focus on family and spend more time with them,” the sheriff’s office said in a release on Sunday. “We express our deepest condolences to his entire family. We are your family and our hearts are broken.”
