Motorcycle driver killed in Hazelwood crash

UPDATED: INCLUDES DRONE INVESTIGATION VIDEO | This smashup on SE Stark Street ended with a deceased biker and an injured car driver …

During rush hour, SE Stark Street is closed down in the Hazelwood neighborhood after a fatal collision between a motorcycle rider and a car.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

The circumstances have not yet made public about how a motorcycle rider and a car collided on SE Stark Street, just west of 135th Avenue, on Thursday afternoon, June 22.

What is known is that Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct officers were dispatched to the crash at 5:44 p.m.

Portland Police Bureau Traffic Division Major Crash Team officers begin their investigation of this fatal crash.

When officers arrived, they found the motorcycle rider dead at the scene. The driver, and only occupant, of the involved car was taken to a local hospital with injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening.

See video of this crash being investigated, with officers using a drone for the first time. Graphic scenes including the deceased have been cropped out of this video.

SE Stark Street was closed to vehicular traffic and even pedestrians from SE 130th to 136th Avenue – routing the heavy afternoon drive traffic through the Hazelwood neighborhood near David Douglas High School.

An officer changes out the batteries in one of their new drones that they now can use to document traffic crashes like this one.

Neighbors in the area who spoke with East Portland News diametrically differed in opinions about how the accident took place. One said the motorcycle had turned in front the car; the other said that the car cut off the motorcyclist.

UPDATE

On June 24, PPB officials provided more information about this incident:

The motorcyclist who died in the crash is identified as 26-year-old Adrian Calvillo-Trujillo of Gresham.

Preliminary investigation indicates Calvillo-Trujillo was riding a black and red 2022 Suzuki GSX-R eastbound on SE Stark Street at a high rate of speed.

The driver of a white 2001 Acura TL was stopped northbound on Southeast 135th Avenue turning westbound onto SE Stark Street. The motorcyclist struck the driver’s side of the Acura.

After the initial impact, the motorcycle rolled into another vehicle, a white 2010 Ford Escape, which was parked and unoccupied. The adult female driver of the Acura is recovering from her injuries.

Speed is believed to be a factor in the crash. No arrests were made.

The PPB’s Traffic Division Major Crash Team responded to the scene to investigate.

Major Crash Team officers fly their drone …

… as the UAS documents the crash scene.

This is the first crash investigation that is utilizing the Bureau’s newly-approved small unmanned aerial system (sUAS or “drone”) to scan the crash scene more thoroughly and quickly than before.

Read about the Portland Police Bureau’s demonstration and explanation and see video of the PPB’s drone program: CLICK HERE.

After flying the drone, officers break out their trusty FARO Crash Reconstruction instrument to document the scene the “old fashioned” way.

If you have information about this crash and have not already spoken to police, please e-mail crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov and reference Case No. 23-164280.

Even with this fatal crash, it appears that the goals of the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Vision Zero program are meeting some success reducing the number of traffic fatalities by two! This is the 29th traffic fatality in Portland this year. On this date in 2022, PPB had responded to 31 fatal crashes.

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