PORT ANGELES — Former Port Angeles Police Chief Tom Riepe is recovering from a head injury after he fell earlier this week, said Dan McKeen, Port Angeles fire chief, on Thursday.
McKeen, who is a friend of Riepe, 55 — and who was speaking on the family’s behalf — said Riepe was unconscious for three to five minutes after his head hit a log at about 9 a.m. Monday.
Riepe, who retired from the chief position in 2007, was on his property on Blue Mountain Road, where he is building a home.
Because he was unconscious for a short period of time, Riepe was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle on Monday as a precaution, said McKeen, who declined to provide more details about Riepe’s injury.
Riepe returned home on Wednesday, and is being cared for by family and friends, McKeen said .
“He’s doing remarkably well,” McKeen said, “in that he is not expected to have any permanent injuries from this fall.”
“He’s going to be really tired and sore” for a couple of weeks, he added.
It is unknown how or why he fell, but it is not “health related,” McKeen said.
McKeen said contract workers hired to assist in building the home witnessed the fall and phoned 9-1-1.
Emergency medical technicians from Fire District No. 3 drove Riepe to the Olympic Medical Center.
Riepe grew up in Port Angeles and retired as the city’s police chief after serving seven years in the position.
He was a 30-year veteran of the Police Department.
