Prineville pair survive crash as car impaled by tree

Two young Prineville men survived a crash on the Ochoco National Forest on Wednesday in which a downed fir tree impaled the windshield of their car and slammed through the passenger compartment, Crook County sheriff’s deputies said.

Deputies were dispatched shortly after 5 p.m. to the report of an injury crash in the area of North McKay Road, said sheriff’s Sgt. Travis Jurgens. They were told the two people who were in that car were being transported by a private car toward Prineville.

Deputies and Crook County Fire and Rescue paramedics met that car at the intersection of North McKay and Northwest Gerke Road. One was taken by ambulance to St. Charles Prineville with serious injuries, Jurgens said.

Deputies found the crash scene on Forest Service Road 27, near the intersection with Road 2710, about 20 miles north of Prineville.

They determined Kylian Beitz, 20, was driving a 1993 Honda Accord, heading south toward Prineville, when he lost control of the car on a corner, Jurgens said. It left the road, went down an embankment and was impaled by the downed fir tree.

Beitz later was transferred to St. Charles Bend, where a house supervisor said he was in fair condition late Wednesday night. His passenger, Adrian Stafford, 19, received minor injuries and declined medical treatment, Jurgens said.

While the crash investigation is continuing, “alcohol, marijuana and speed are believed to be contributing factors in the crash,” Jurgens said in a news release.

Beitz made the news when he was arrested three times in the past 13 months. In late March of last year, Redmond police said, he refused to pull over in a traffic stop and fled at speeds of up to 80 mph, crashed and fled, eluding searchers. He was identified as a suspect and arrested in early April of last year.

In June, Redmond police arrested Beitz as he was released from jail in Prineville, on new car theft charges stemming from the March incident. He was held without bail on a probation violation charge, as well as numerous new charges, and police said they were still searching for an ATV he allegedly stole.

Last November, a raid on a northwest Prineville home led to three arrests, including Beitz and his father. He was arrested on several Crook and Deschutes County warrants, and a new charge of meth possession, and held without bail.