Tipsy driver T-bones car – killing driver

It’s unknown how the suspect came to be “driving impaired” in Parkrose that morning, but his actions proved deadly in a outer east Portland smash-up …

For hours, NE Sandy Boulevard is closed to both vehicles and pedestrians, while Portland Police Bureau Traffic Division Crash Team officers investigate the deadly side-impact crash in Parkrose.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

A traffic collision, dispatched at 9:40 a.m. on January 25, brought Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officers and paramedics to NE Sandy Boulevard near 105th Avenue.

Arriving officers reported finding a two car crash; and the driver of one vehicle was dead.

Members of the PPB Crash Team take a closer look at the Mazda Miata in which a man died, in the T-bone impact.

According to a witness, the driver of a white 2003 Pontiac Grand Am (officials referred to it as a “Bonneville”) was westbound on NE Sandy Boulevard.

“He was going, like, at least 60 – twice the posted speed as he came up to a red light,” said another driver, Toni Greer, who said she witnessed the accident.

“There was a car stopped at the light; the Pontiac swerved around it at the last minute, and in the intersection hit a sliver sports car,” Greer told East Portland News. “I stopped and called 9-1-1.”

After the high-speed crash, the T-boned Mazda Miata careens some distance from the intersection; the Pontiac that hit it stops – after running into a building.

That sports car, a 2003 Mazda Miata, was slowing going northbound on NE 105th Avenue, and was turning onto westbound Sandy Boulevard, when the Pontiac slammed into it on the passenger-side door.

The impact rammed the Miata west some 300 feet of the intersection; the Pontiac then crashed into a commercial building and stopped. “You should have heard the noise it made; it was crazy bad,” Greer recalled. “Some firefighters worked to save the driver [of the Miata] while others worked to cut him out of the car.”

That witness pointed to a police car in which the Pontiac’s driver was now seated, apparently under arrest.

That driver, later identified as 28-year-old Tyrell Paul Dixon of Happy Valley, was first taken for medical treatment, and then was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) at 6:45 p.m. on charges of Manslaughter in the Second Degree, Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants, and Reckless Driving.

A PPB Crash Team officer marks the pavement where the accident took place.

On January 27, Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill announced that Dixon was, indeed, charged with manslaughter following this fatal crash.

The four-count filing charged Paul Dixon for recklessly causing the death of 52-year-old Salvador Cruz-Garcia, the driver of the Miata.

Facing a charge Class B Felony charge of Manslaughter in the Second Degree, among others, is 28-year-old Tyrell Paul Dixon. MCDC booking photo

Dixon’s charges were one count each of:

Manslaughter in the Second Degree
Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants
Reckless Driving
Recklessly Endangering Another Person

According to court documents, witnesses told police that, after the crash, both Dixon and his passenger, his brother, got out of the car, and the brother left to be taken to a hospital by his father.

Police reports say that the Pontiac caused a “deep impact intrusion” into the passenger side of the Miata.

According to court documents, when an officer contacted and asked Dixon for his driver’s license, he handed the officer a debit card, according to court documents. The officer returned the debit card and asked for Dixon’s driver’s license, however, Dixon once again handed the officer a different debit card.

The documents further assert that officers observed other signs of impairment – including Dixon having a flushed face and bloodshot eyes, and his swaying side-to-side to the point where he almost fell over.

As long as the investigation takes, NE Sandy Boulevard remains closed.

At his arraignment, Dixon learned his combined bail had been set at $255,000. In lieu of making bail, he is currently being held at Inverness Jail.

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