Drunk driver smashes truck into car, then building – then limps away

INCLUDES AFTERMATH VIDEO | EXCLUSIVE | Hit-and-run smashups happen about every 10 minutes in Portland – see why this injury-producing crash in outer East Portland’s Hazelwood neighborhood wasn’t a typical hit-and-run …

Here’s a look at the entire crash scene in the Hazelwood neighborhood.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

Even though the Portland Bureau of Emergency Communications (BOEC) lists all the hit-and-run accidents as “Media Events” – but they occur so frequently, and are usually so minor, they’re not really news most of the time.

However, on Friday evening, October 3, an incident to which BOEC dispatched Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officers, tagged “Accident-Hit & Run-Priority” sent six officers – not the usual one or two – to the intersection of NE 102nd Avenue and Glisan Street, at 7:34 p.m.

Aftermath video: Watch as officers investigate this crash, and tow truck drivers create a plan to extract a large work van from a cinder block building.

Also, a Portland Fire & Rescue crew was sent there, at the same time, to check on the “stability of a structure” on NE Glisan Street – and soon departed, after finding it to be structurally sound.

As startling as it is to see this van stuck halfway into the building, it was even more so that the driver was able to get out, shinny through the opening, and stagger away.

It was easy to spot the “structure” in question – it was distinguished by having a large Chevy Express work van, complete with extension ladders knocked off a roof rack, embedded halfway into it.

The address was 10232 NE Glisan Street – the former long-time location of McTavish Shortbread, a bakery that has since moved into a NE Airport Way industrial complex.

Between the building and the intersection along NE Glisan Street was a Chevy Bolt, airbags deployed, with extensive damage to the front of the electric car.

Being hit by a red-light-running work van in the intersection crumpled the front end of this Chevy electric car, sending the driver to the hospital.

The Chevy was hit with such force by the van, it smashed it into the side of this building.

“This was a hit-and-run [accident] that occurred in the intersection of NE 102nd Avenue and Glisan Street,” later confirmed PPB Public Information Officer Eric Zajac. “Witness accounts state the van ran the [red] light and collided with the sedan. The driver of the van walked away from the accident, but was found a few blocks away by the officers responding to the accident.”

Tow truck operators call for additional help to remove this truck from the building.

Officer Zajac told East Portland News that Chevy’s driver was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. “The van’s driver was also taken for medical evaluation at a local hospital, but was released into the custody of officers and arrested.

54-year-old Corey Michael Beasley was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on October 4 at 1:10 a.m. on charges of DUII-Alcohol, Hit & Run, Driving While Revoked, Felony Reckless Driving, and an unrelated Felony Assault warrant.

Currently, Beasley is being held in Inverness Jail in lieu of a combined $30,000 bail on the Driving While Revoked, Felony, and Assault charges.

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