An advocate for people with physical challenges died when his all-terrain vehicle went over a cliff near a lake in the Idaho panhandle. 

Idaho State Police say 42-year-old Thomas W. McTevia of Coeur d’Alene and his passenger, Tina Hoisington, 35, of Lewiston, Idaho, died Sunday after their ATV fell over the edge at the Bernard Overlook on Lake Pend Oreille. 

Selkirk Fire Rescue & EMS Chief Ron Stocking said the side-by-side utility terrain vehicle was traveling with others when it got too close to the edge of a 2,000-foot cliff. 

Stocking said there were witness reports that the group may have been setting up for a photograph when the accident happened.

Selkirk firefighter Britain Whitley rappelled 500 feet to the first victim and descended on foot to the second, who was 1,100 feet down the slope.  

“There’s just no way to get a grip around this. It is a true tragedy,” Stocking said.

A helicopter from Two Bear Air Rescue in the Flathead Valley was used to recover the bodies due to the ruggedness and remoteness of the terrain.

“It was just really steep with a lot of dead snags,” Two Bear chief pilot Jim Bob Pierce said.

Pierce said Two Bear began its day in Idaho by rescuing a lost mushroom picker in Clearwater County and returned to Montana for a lost Alzheimer’s sufferer when it received the call from Bonner County, Idaho.

McTevia continue to lead an active life after a severe spinal cord injury paralyzed him in 2004. He kayaked, photographed, hunted, skydived and “hand-cycled,” or operated a bike with his hands. 

He was an advocate for the physically challenged community and pushed for the city to make a portion of Tubbs Hill trail near lake Coeur d’Alene accessible to wheelchair users. 

McTevia was a Navy veteran and former police officer.