This driver must have been in a big hurry while traveling SE Holgate Blvd. in the Powellhurst-Gilbert Neighborhood …
Officials say the driver of this car jumped the green light and plowed into a pickup truck making a left turn on to SE 112th Ave.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
Witnesses say they were astonished to see a car “not even slow down” as it headed westbound on SE Holgate Blvd on January 28 about 3:15 p.m.
“The blue car was going way too fast,” Estella Gomez tells us. “I was standing here, waiting for a bus, and the car looked like it didn’t even slow down a bit before it hit the truck.”
This 1/2-ton pickup truck was spun 90 degrees by the impact from the car that collided with it.
The driver the pickup truck says he was driving eastbound on SE Holgate St., and was about to turn left (north) on SE 112th Ave. As the traffic control signal at the intersection turned yellow the car in front of him made the left-hand turn and he followed it.
The impact drives the pickup truck into another car, stopped at the intersection, facing south, preparing to make a right-hand turn on to SE Holgate Blvd.
“I don’t even think the guy in the blue car slowed down a bit,” said the driver of the pickup truck. “It’s as if he didn’t have a red light or anything. He just plowed right into me.”
Even though the driver was stopped at the intersection, the accident destroyed her car.
The woman driving that car waiting at the light looked visibly shaken by the sudden collision that totaled her car. “When I close my eyes, all I can see is this big old pickup truck flying right at me and landing on my car’s hood.”
Police officials were unable to report whether or not a citation was issued. No traumatic injuries were reported in the three-car smash-up.
© 2008 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News Service