Holgate wreck halts traffic in Lents

See why the police officer said, as traffic collisions go, this was a ‘good wreck’ …

At the crest of SE Holgate Boulevard just past Lents Park, Portland Fire & Rescue Truck 11 blocks the street while paramedics check patients from a near head-on collision.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton
It was a bad place for a near head-on collision – on SE Holgate Boulevard, just over the crest of the hill from Lents Park, on the way down to Eastport Plaza, near SE 87^th Avenue. It happened on October 22, at about 4:30 p.m.

“I just heard a big crunching and smashing sound,” Joshinea Lucas told East Portland News. At that time, she was standing at the bottom of the hill waiting for a TriMet bus, and didn’t see the crash. “But it was really loud; it scared me!”

When these two vehicles collided, the sound of the impact could be heard from some distance.

On the hill, a Jeep four-door and a late model Toyota RAV4 had come to rest, with the fronts of the vehicles facing each other, stopped diagonally on the hill.

Two young men a Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct District Officer said were in the Jeep had gotten out of their smashed vehicle, and were examining the damage.

In what’s called a “discretionary transport”, some crash victims are taken to an area hospital for evaluation.

The women in the Toyota said they believed they were injured. After being checked out by Portland Fire & Rescue Truck 11 Paramedics, they were taken to a local hospital, albeit without flashing lights and siren, for further medical evaluation.

Due to the location, it appeared no witnesses were available to speak with officers at the scene.

“Based on what we’ve found out so far,” the District Officer told East Portland News, “it appears as if the Toyota RAV4 crossed the center line, for unknown reasons, and collided in an offset-head-on collision with the Jeep.”

A Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct District Officer talks with the sister of the Jeep’s driver, and the two men in the vehicle, detailing the accident paperwork.

Because this accident was classified as a “non-trauma” incident, the PPB Traffic Division investigators were not called to the scene.

“As far as car accidents go,” the officer commented, “this was a pretty ‘good’ one. That is, both of these vehicles look totaled – but the injuries appear to be relatively minor.”

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