INCLUDES EXCLUSIVE VIDEO | 8 PHOTOS | UPDATED | Look at the damaged caused by speed racers on the boulevard; and the totaled police cruiser after an intoxicated driver later smashes into it, while detectives are processing the second accident scene …
After shutting down S. E. Powell Boulevard following a deadly crash, Portland Police Major Crash Team members gather to begin documenting the incident.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
Highway mayhem took place on SE. Powell Boulevard on Thursday, July 20, and early on the following morning – along Highway 26 in the Foster-Powell neighborhood.
July 20 at 9:34 p.m.
Speed racers cause deadly crash
As the investigation of this fatal crash begins, and continues throughout the night, SE Powell Boulevard is closed to traffic.
On report of a multiple vehicle crash with serious injuries, PPB East Precinct officers were dispatched were dispatched to SE Powell Boulevard and 63rd Avenue, at 9:34 p.m.
“Arriving officers found two people deceased; and a third person was taken to a local hospital by ambulance with serious, life-threatening injuries,” PPB Public Information Officer Sgt. Kevin Allen preliminarily reported. A fourth person was also hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, he added.
PPB Major Crash Team officers set up their FARO Crash Reconstruction Forensic Analysis equipment as they begin documenting the scene.
Officers immediately closed down. Powell Boulevard to vehicles and pedestrians between SE 60th and 72nd Avenues.
When we saw the damaged vehicles at the crash scene in person, it was clear that this had been a horrific smashup.
Seeing these wrecked vehicles, after the crash victims have been removed, it’s clear that this was a high-speed and very destructive accident.
A black 2004 Lexus GS 300 slid to a stop at the south curb of Powell; a “Door Dash” delivery bag was bizarrely balanced atop the vehicle. The back end of a 2015 BMW 3-Series sedan was partially hidden among branches of trees in the highwayt’s median.
Soon, the PPB Traffic Division’s Major Crash Team arrived at the scene to investigate.
Watch exclusive video of this crash being investigated:
Details revealed following day
Later on July 21, PPB spokesperson Sgt. Allen filled in the details of this crash: Preliminary investigation indicated that the BMW and a 2005 Subaru Impreza, had been racing eastbound on Powell Boulevard at speeds above the posted limit.
The adult female driver of the Lexus, and an adult male passenger, were making a legal turn from northbound 63rd Avenue to westbound Powell Boulevard when the racing BMW slammed into the driver’s side of the Lexus.
Behind the BMW 3-Series sedan, crash investigators continue to gather evidence.
“The force of the crash sent the BMW into the raised median, and the vehicle knocked over multiple trees,” Sgt. Allen added.
“The Subaru was not directly involved in the crash; the 17-year-old male driver of that vehicle pulled over and remained at the scene,” Sgt. Allen reported.
This fatal crash investigation continues into the night.
“The driver and the passenger of the BMW, both 18-year-old women, died at the scene,” confirmed Sgt. Allen. “The adult female driver of the Lexus died at the hospital; her male passenger was treated for serious but not life-threatening injuries.”
UPDATE
On July 22, Police Bureau officials announced that the three women killed in the crash in this crash have been identified:
The driver of the BMW, Hannah E. Fetters, 18, and her twin sister, Grace I. Fetters, 18, both died at the scene. The driver of the Lexus, Julie D. Skeen, 55, of Portland, died at the hospital.
If you have information about this deadly crash and have not already spoken to police, please e-mail crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov and refer to Case No. 23-190919.
July 21 at 4:27 a.m.
Impaired driver plows into police car
While the fatal traffic investigation was still in progress, but unrelated to it, there was another crash – this one at 4:27 a.m. on SE Powell Boulevard and 65th Avenue.
This PPB Chevrolet Tahoe was wreckage, after a reportedly drunk driver of a Hyundai Santa Fe smashed into it. PPB image
The driver of a 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe SUV smashed into an unoccupied, unmarked Chevrolet Tahoe being used by a PPB Traffic Division Sergeant who was working the fatal crash inquiry.
“Although unmarked, this vehicle had its emergency lights activated, which flash red, blue, and/or white, for 360-degrees around the vehicle,” Sgt. Allen commented.
There were no injuries resulting from this crash.
PPB Major Crash Team investigators look into an additional accident along S. E. Powell Boulevard.
The driver, responsible for this mishap, 28-year-old Ulisses Aguirre of Portland, was issued criminal citations – but was not booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center – for Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants-Alcohol and Reckless Driving
It you have tips about this third crash, e-mail crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov and make reference to Case No. 23-191150.
As these fatalities were the 39th and 40th traffic related fatalities of 2023 – and the ninth this month – the goals of the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Vision Zero program to eliminate traffic deaths is dwindling.
© 2023 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
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