Careless motorcyclist’s ride ends in tragedy

Although the driver of the Jeep he smashed into was arrested for DUII, see why officials say the cyclist was responsible for his own demise …

Police say that the driver of the motorcycle was going too fast, lost control, and crashed into the Jeep on SE 28th Avenue in Eastmoreland on April 2nd.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton
It’s a sad, simple story: A motorcyclist and Jeep collide; the cyclist dies at the scene.

Just after 3:00 p.m. on April 2, witnesses said the driver of a white café-racer style motorcycle took off like a shot from the Reed neighborhood 7-11 convenience store on SE 28th Avenue at SE Steele, heading south.

After passing the west edge of Reed College and the Rhododendron Gardens, and making his way past the SE Woodstock Boulevard intersection, the biker picked up speed as he negotiated the twists and turns SE 28th Avenue makes as it snakes around the east margin of Eastmoreland Golf Course.

As he motored south, around the sweeping curve past SE Carlton Street, the biker failed to make the sharp right curve as the road heads west as Bybee Boulevard just after SE Tolman Street.

“When officers arrived, they found a 29-year-old man, the motorcycle operator, deceased at the scene,” reported police spokesperson Detective Mary Wheat.

Major Crash Team Investigators measure skid marks the motorcycle made just before it collided with the car just past SE Tolman Street.

The Portland Police Bureau Traffic Division’s Major Crash Team arrived on scene moments later, and quickly determined that the deceased biker, identified as 28-year-old Jeremy Lee Stamper, had lost control of his motorcycle, leaving skid marks into the oncoming lane of traffic

“Stamper was operating the motorcycle at a high rate of speed, and collided with a vehicle in the oncoming traffic,” Wheat said.

29-year-old Jeremy Lee Stamper was going too fast to make the curve, officials say, which is what directly led to his death.

After the collision, police arrested the driver of the jeep the cycle had struck, 25-year-old Justin Christopher Jones, for DUII – but said he was not at fault for the accident.

The driver of the vehicle with which Stamper collided was identified as 25-year-old Justin Christopher Jones. Reported Wheat, “Jones cooperated with police at the scene, but was taken into custody, and charged with one count of Driving Under the Influence.

“However, Major Crash Team Investigators determined that Jones was not responsible for the accident, and that Stamper had lost control of his motorcycle.”

This extemporaneous memorial by friends and family appeared in Stamper’s memory along the curb at the crash site.

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