INCLUDES CRASH INVESTIGATION VIDEO | UPDATED | Double crashes this night kept Portland Police officers running from incident to incident in outer East Portland …
In the darkness of the evening of September 5 and 6, Portland Police officers and crash investigators are called to the scenes of wrecks.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
Several vehicle collisions overnight on September 5 and 6 didn’t give Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct – or their Traffic Division’s Major Crash Team – any time to write up their reports as they went from one to another.
October 6
Fleeing burglars smash police SUV in Lents
After reportedly burglarizing a used book store in the Centennial neighborhood, the driver of this stolen Kia flees from police through Powellhurst-Gilbert, and into the Lents neighborhood.
This incident began in the Centennial neighborhood early on Friday, October 6, at 2:57a.m., when PPB East Precinct officers were responded to a burglary at the Bearly Read Books store, next to the Mini Mart Express convenience store at 16441 SE Powell Boulevard.
The officers spotted a suspect vehicle, a white 2016 Kia Optima, pulling away from the scene. They followed it, then signaled the car to stop, near SE 136th Avenue and Holgate Boulevard. However, the driver instead took off fast.
This photo, taken shortly after the crash, shows the collision between the fleeing Kia and a PPB patrol SUV sent the police vehicle careening through a fence and into a yard. PPB image
Because of current PPB policies, the officers did not pursue. Instead, they began coordinating with other officers to stop the fleeing suspects. At 3:15 a.m., the suspect vehicle and a police vehicle slammed together at SE Holgate Boulevard and 111th Avenue.
Two officers – a Field Training Officer, and a Trainee Officer – were in the 2023 Ford Police Interceptor “Utility” (a sport utility crossover), were injured and were taken to a local hospital by ambulance for treatment. They were later released to recover at home.
Take a closer look at the PPB patrol vehicle, stopped just before it careened into a house. PPB image
The two suspects in the Kia, an adult male driver and adult female passenger, were also injured, and they were also taken to a local hospital by ambulance. The driver’s injuries are considered life-threatening. The passenger was seriously hurt, but her injuries are not considered life threatening.
The PPB’s Traffic Division Major Crash Team responded to investigate the crash, and the intersection was closed until about 9:25 a.m.
Officers confirmed that a burglary had taken place at the bookstore. That investigation remains ongoing. By the way, the Kia had been reported stolen out of a SE Portland driveway the day before, on October 5.
Here’s what the smashed police car looks like in the light of day. PPB image
If you have information about this crash, and have not already spoken to police, please e-mail crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov attn: Traffic Division and make reference to Case No. 23-262055.
September 5
Late-night high-speed crash in East Portland kills driver blamed on alcohol, speed
Arriving emergency first responders find this SUV had crashed into a steel guardrail attached to sturdy concrete-filled steel posts.
Just hours before that crash which injured burglary suspects and police officer, a violent vehicle smashup in to the west resulted in another traffic fatality.
A man driving a Mitsubishi Outlander SUV died in a one-vehicle crash late on October 5 on the border between the Brentwood-Darlington and Ardenwald-Johnson Creek neighborhoods, where on SE 52nd Avenue dead-ends into.Harney Drive.
Watch, as the investigation begins at this fatal crash:
PPB East Precinct officers, who were dispatched to the crash 11:14 p.m. that evening, saw that the Mitsubishi had sped, head-on, into the steel guardrails mounted on massive steel posts at the intersection where 52nd Avenue ends.
The front end of this Mitsubishi is severely damaged in the crash.
Portland Fire & Rescue Woodstock Station 25’s Engine and Ladder Truck companies rushed to the scene only to find that the male driver was deceased. It appeared the driver had been thrown into the windshield during the crash.
The so violently smashed into the massive steel guardrails mounted on thick steel posts, the concussion of the crash brought neighbors out from surrounding houses to see what had taken place.
The first-arriving PPB Traffic Division Major Crash Team investigators look over the wrecked vehicle.
A witness told East Portland News that it looked as if “the driver didn’t try to slow down to make the turn” before the crash.
The PPB’s Traffic Division Major Crash Team was called to investigate, closing the intersection well into the night.
UPDATE
On September 9 it was revealed that 29-year-old Jeremy Clement was identified as the person who died in the crash. “The investigation into the crash is ongoing, but alcohol and speed appear to be contributing factors,” a PPB official stated.
If you have information about this crash, please contact Officer David Enz at David.Enz@police.portlandoregon.gov or (503) 823-2208; and, reference Case No. 23-261934.
This, the 49th fatal crash investigation in Portland this year, hampers the goals of the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Vision Zero program.
© 2023 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
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