{"id":309508,"date":"2025-10-17T01:37:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T01:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/309508\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T01:37:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T01:37:09","slug":"family-of-man-swept-away-in-floodwaters-criticizes-maricopa-county-sheriffs-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/309508\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of man swept away in floodwaters criticizes Maricopa County Sheriff\u2019s response"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHOENIX (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 The family of 42-year-old Vince Upton, who tragically lost his life after being swept away by floodwaters this week in Rainbow Valley,<\/a> is speaking out, criticizing the response and search efforts by the Maricopa County Sheriff\u2019s Office. <\/p>\n

Upton\u2019s body was found nearly 36 hours after his truck was located in a flooded wash, prompting questions about the timeliness and coordination of the search operation.<\/p>\n

Upton\u2019s vehicle was discovered on Sunday around 3:30 a.m., however, Upton was not found with it. \u201cYou see things like this on the news, and you feel empathy and sadness for other families, but you never imagine it could happen to your own,\u201d said Upton\u2019s niece, Auston Patterson. <\/p>\n

After Upton\u2019s disappearance, his family and friends took matters into their own hands, searching on ATVs, horseback, and on foot in an attempt to locate him. Meanwhile, the Maricopa County Sheriff\u2019s Office, which was tasked with leading the search, faced severe weather conditions that delayed their efforts.<\/p>\n

The family expressed frustration over what they believe was a lack of action by the authorities. \u201cThere was a lot of feeling around the lack of effort from the people who should have been searching,\u201d Patterson said. \u201cPersonally, I didn\u2019t see a search team there, maybe an hour before we found him.\u201d <\/p>\n

The family has since taken to social media<\/a>, releasing a statement expressing their dissatisfaction with the Sheriff\u2019s Office\u2019s response. They claimed that the Sheriff\u2019s Office did not conduct a continuous, coordinated search, particularly in the critical early hours after Upton\u2019s truck was discovered.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt abandoned. It felt very insensitive,\u201d Patterson said. <\/p>\n

In response to the criticism, the Maricopa County Sheriff\u2019s Office issued a detailed statement. They explained that extreme weather conditions hindered their ability to conduct an aerial search, and at one point, the flight crew had to make an emergency landing. The Sheriff\u2019s Office further stated that, due to dangerous water conditions, they were unable to deploy swiftwater technicians immediately.<\/p>\n

The statement also acknowledged that the situation was complicated by numerous other life-threatening emergencies and flash floods in the area. By the following day, the Sheriff\u2019s Office mobilized a large-scale search operation, and three hours later, Upton\u2019s body was found, several miles downstream from where his truck was located.<\/p>\n

To honor Upton\u2019s memory and support his family, a candlelight vigil has been scheduled for Sunday at 6 p.m. at Narramore Rd and Waterman Wash. A GoFundMe page has also been set up to help Upton\u2019s wife and three children during this incredibly difficult time.<\/a><\/p>\n

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here<\/a> with a brief description.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 KTVK\/KPHO. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX (AZFamily) \u2014 The family of 42-year-old Vince Upton, who tragically lost his life after being swept away…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":309509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,7182,246,31295,38987,1589,7183,156414,25548,10638,40031,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,156415],"class_list":{"0":"post-309508","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-azfamily","12":"tag-family","13":"tag-flash-floods","14":"tag-mcso","15":"tag-phoenix","16":"tag-phoenix-news","17":"tag-rainbow-valley","18":"tag-response","19":"tag-search-and-rescue","20":"tag-truck","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa","27":"tag-vince-upton"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115386950859091092","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}