Impaired driver in head-on crash on 82nd

It’s not clear if this driver had had too much cheer due to the Super Bowl, but the result was an odd collision, on the Avenue of Roses …

Traffic is closed down, after a car runs head-on into a minivan on SE 82^nd Avenue of Roses in Montavilla.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

The driver of a burgundy Lincoln Continental, suspected of being impaired at the wheel, crossed the center line and smashed head-on into minivan on Super Bowl evening, at about 6:30 p.m. on February 7, on SE 82^nd Avenue of Roses at Mill Street.

The driver of a white Chevy Astro minivan, who declined to give us his name, said he’d been checked out by medical personnel – and, although he was relatively uninjured, he was still trembling as he told East Portland News how the crash unfolded.

The driver of this Chevy Astro, seeing the driver of a Lincoln Continental coming at him in his lane, brakes to a stop and hits the horn before the collision.

“I was headed southbound on 82^nd Avenue,” he began. “I saw this dark-colored car that was heading northbound. The driver was going fairly slow, but he started creeping over the double yellow line into my lane.

“At first, I thought he was just starting, too early, to turn [left, heading west] onto SE Mill Street,” the victim driver said.

A police sergeant holds a bag containing evidence, taken from the suspected impaired driver’s vehicle.

“As I watched, I realized that he’d straightened out his car, and he’s going straight at me, in my lane – coming right at me. With traffic in the other lane, there was nowhere to go.

“I slowed down to a stop and laid on my horn, and watched as his headlights came right at me about 30 miles per hour,” the driver said, adding, “I think the guy is wasted.”

The Field Sobriety Evaluation goes poorly for the suspected intoxicated driver.

Portland Police Bureau East Precinct and Traffic Division officers were at the scene, blocking southbound lanes of the thoroughfare.

It took two police officers to help the man to stand up. A Traffic Division officer attempted to conduct a Field Sobriety Evaluation. After several tries, the driver of the Lincoln appeared to become uncooperative, and was taken into custody.

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