Man’s body found next to train tracks

Police have released the identity a man whose body was found next to the train tracks in Washougal Monday morning.

According to the Washougal Police Department, the body of Dane Jacob Reister, 43, of Washougal, was spotted along the tracks at Third and Sixth streets, by the conductor of a BNSF “job train,” which consists of three train cars and a locomotive, as it traveled eastbound on the tracks. The conductor confirmed the fatality and local authorities were notified.

WPD investigators determined that Reister’s death occurred during the late morning hours of May 25. There are no known witnesses.

Reister’s unoccupied truck was located in a parking a lot about 100 yards away from the train tracks.

Following an autopsy, the Clark County Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death as multiple blunt force injuries and the manner as suicide.

Reister was a former officer with the Portland Police Bureau. He was terminated from his job in October 2013, more than two years after he critically injured a suspect when he mistakenly fired a beanbag shotgun that contained lethal rounds. He was facing assault charges.

Reister had worked for the PPB since 1996.

Anyone with information about Reister’s death should contact Washougal Det. Kate Tierney 835-8701.