Bike rider dies after crash on 82nd Avenue

It’s unclear just why this outer East Portland wreck occurred, on a clear and sunny fall morning …

On a spot straddling the Lents and Brentwood-Darlington neighborhoods, officers close down a section of SE 82^nd Avenue of Roses to investigate a serious SUV vs. bicyclist accident.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

How and why a SUV, southbound on SE 82^nd Avenue of Roses, happened to collide with a woman riding a bicycle eastbound from the intersection at SE Henderson Street on the morning of October 15 remains unclear.

When the first Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct officers arrived at the scene four minutes after they were dispatched at 11:09 a.m., they came across a maroon Honda Pilot stopped facing south, in the inside northbound lane of the Avenue of Roses – and the rider of a red TREK bicycle down on the pavement.

An officer takes notes as he speaks with a witness to the crash.

Paramedics quickly prepared the bicyclist to be taken to a local hospital, telling officers that she was believed to have sustained serious, life-threatening injuries.

“Based on the severity of the woman’s injuries, the PPB Traffic Division Major Crash Team officers assumed the investigation,” reported the Bureau’s Public Information Officer, Sgt. Chris Burley.

Dents in the front of the Honda, and the cracked windshield, show the force of the accident.

The bike the woman was riding before the accident was moved to the curb.

The cyclist died at an area hospital on the evening of the accident, Burley revealed the next day.

All that’s been made public from the investigation so far was that, somehow, the “bicyclist and Honda collided at the intersection of SE 82nd Avenue and Henderson Street”.

This PPB Traffic Division officer uses am UltraLyte Laser Speed Gun to accurately measure distances in this crash.

“The driver of the Honda remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators; there have been no citations issued or arrests made at this time,” Burley told us.

The following evening, some 20 people, including her brother and family members, gathered at the intersection for a candlelight vigil; later, police confirmed that the deceased had been identified as 52-year-old Pamela Seidel.

Friends of Pamela Seidel shared this photo of her, after she was killed while riding her bicycle.

At the vigil, friends described Seidel as a kind and sharing person, despite having been homeless for years. A person close to Seidel said that she recently moved into an apartment, had gotten a job at a nearby motel, and was receiving mental health treatment.

“This is the 28th traffic related fatality investigated by the Portland Police Bureau Traffic Division’s Major Crash Team in 2018,” Burley commented.

Anyone with information about this fatal crash investigation should contact Portland Police Bureau Traffic Division’s Major Crash Team Investigator, Garrett Dow, at 503-823-5070, or at Garrett.Dow@portlandoregon.gov

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