Bend man charged in three-car Highway 97 crash
Oregon State Police arrested and cited a Bend man on DUII-drugs charges after a three-car crash on U.S. Highway 97 north of Bend that caused only minor injuries but tied up traffic for hours Monday afternoon.
Troopers said Jacob Albertini, 39, was at the wheel of a gray 2000 Toyota Camry heading south near milepost 132 when he crossed into the northbound lanes and struck a black 2000 Toyota 4-Runner driven by Brian Woods, 46, of Vancouver, Wash. A northbound 1999 Ford Taurus driven by Deborah Miller, 65, of Redmond, also struck Albertini’s car, they said.
The crash shut down the northbound lanes of Highway 97 for about two hours. ODOT and Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies assisted at the crash scene and traffic was diverted to a single lane, causing an extensive backup for several miles in both directions, troopers said.
Bend Fire and Rescue medics were called to the scene, but no patients were transported, as only minor injuries occurred.
Albertini was given a field sobriety test, arrested on the DUII-drugs charges and brought to the Bend OSP office for evaluation, then issued a citation for a March 30 court date, troopers said.
A family member contacted NewsChannel 21 Tuesday to clarify that the drugs involved were Albertini’s prescription medication. He added that a physician had indicated he believed it would be safe for him to drive while he was the medication.
Due to the traffic back-up in the northbound lanes, several other minor non-injury rear-end crashes occurred, troopers said. While OSP was en route to its office with Albertini in custody, another rollover crash occurred on Highway 97 at milepost 134, near Grandview Avenue. Troopers said that crash blocked southbound lanes of the highway.
Another two-vehicle crash occurred about a mile north of the initial crash scene around 3:17 p.m., when a northbound car drove into the oncoming lane and collided nearly head-on with another car. That crash also led to minor injuries, and the driver who crossed the center line, identified as Nicholas Bowlby, 34, was cited for failure to maintain a lane.
