UPDATED: INCLUDES CRASH INVESTIGATION VIDEO | Here’s what is known about this Harley-Davidson vs. SUV smashup in outer East Portland that closed SE 82nd Avenue, for most of Friday afternoon …
Before Portland Police Bureau Traffic Division Crash Team members arrive, SE 82nd Avenue of Roses is already shut down after the motorcycle-SUV smashup in the middle of the road.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
A motorcyclist, riding a new Harley-Davidson FXLR (FX Lower Rider/Evolution) – also known as a “Fatbob” – was killed on on Friday afternoon, June 14, in a collision with a Honda CRV SUV in the center of SE 82nd Avenue of Roses at Mitchell Street, south of Holgate.
Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct officers, who were dispatched at 12:42 p.m., found the motorcyclist dead at the scene.
Watch our exclusive video, as the PPB’s Major Crash Team arrives and begins investigating this fatal collision.
SE 82nd Avenue of Roses remained closed between Raymond Street and Foster Road until 5:30 p.m. that afternoon as 12 officers and investigators worked to reconstruct the deadly accident.
PPB Traffic Division Major Crash Team’s van pulls up at the scene, on SE Mitchell Street.
Although several people in the area of the Harbor Freight store and Emmert Cali Saigon Mall (formerly, the Southeast Portland Fred Meyer supercenter) said they’d heard the smashup, no one who spoke with East Portland News actually saw it take place.
In a parking lot nearby was parked a Honda CRV with the driver’s side door smashed in, as if it had been involved in a T-bone (side impact) collision. The involved driver remained at the scene, and is cooperating with the investigation.
These Major Crash Team officers set up their FARO Crash Investigation digital documentation unit.
Helping to speed up documenting the crash scene, an officer prepares to fly this specialized drone to gather information from overhead.
The PPB’s Traffic Division Major Crash Team, with their van filled with investigating equipment, began setting up their gear about 2:15 p.m.
Finally, at about 5:30 p.m. SE 82nd Avenue of Roses was reopened to traffic.
This PPB Forensics Division criminalist photographs the downed Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
The criminalist then documents the Honda CRV into which the motorcycle crashed.
UPDATE:
On June 29, the PPB Bureau reported that the motorcyclist who died in the crash was identified as 40-year-old Devin M. Ratliff, of Portland.
The Traffic Investigations Unit determined that Ratliff was driving at a high rate of speed when the driver of a 2020 Honda CRV proceeded from a stop sign eastbound on S.E. Mitchell Street, intending to turn northbound onto 82nd Avenue. The motorcyclist struck the driver’s side of the Honda. “The speed of the motorcyclist was determined to be a factor in the crash,” according to the final report. “No arrests have been made.”
If you have information for the police about this crash, please e-mail it to crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov; Attn: Traffic Investigations Unit and refer to Case No. 24-146567.
This is the 27th traffic related fatality this year so far in Portland, and the seventh incident involving a motorcyclist. It was also the fourth traffic death in a scant 17-hour period. At this point last year, there had been 28 traffic deaths – hindering the goals of the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Vision Zero program.
Earlier on June 14 …
Pedestrian killed struck and killed on I-84 in Montavilla
At sunrise, on June 14, this ODOT Traffic Camera shows empty lanes of eastbound Interstate-84 – closed down by a fatal pedestrian injury near the NE Halsey Street exit.
One of those other three fatal highway encounters took place earlier the same day – Friday, June 14. East Precinct officers at 4:41 a.m. rushed to a crash involving a vehicle and a pedestrian on the pavement of eastbound Interstate 84, just west of the I-205 interchange.
When officers arrived, they found the pedestrian dead in the highway. The involved driver remained at the scene, and cooperated with the investigation.
The PPB’s Traffic Division Major Crash Team was sent to investigate that crash – closing off all eastbound lanes at NE 68th Avenue. Throughout the entire morning drive time, no eastbound traffic was allowed on the Banfield Freeway between the Willamette River and NE 82nd Avenue of Roses.
If you are able to provide any information about this crash, e-mail it to crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov; attn: Traffic Investigations Unit – and make reference to Case No. 24-146316.
© 2024 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
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