DA Hummel out of hospital after crash, faces mobility limits

Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel was released from the hospital Saturday, two days after a driver who police said ran a stop sign smashed into the side of his car at a northwest Bend intersection.

Hummel told NewsChannel 21 on Sunday he’d been brought home from St. Charles Bend Saturday afternoon. He suffered a cracked pelvis and ribs in Thursday’s crash at Northwest 11th Street and Portland Avenue.

He said the main challenge moving forward will be mobility, as doctors have instructed him not to put any weight on his left foot for about eight weeks. That apparently will result in use of a walker or other assistance to get around.

A Washington resident was cited for running a stop sign resulting in the “T-bone” crash/

Bend police and fire units responded around 6:30 p.m. Thursday to the two-vehicle crash at Northwest 11th Street and Portland Avenue, said police Lt. Jason Maniscalco.

An investigation found that Hummel was heading north on 11 th street, approaching the Portland Avenue intersection at the wheel of a blue 2007 Saab, Maniscalco said. There are no stop signs or other traffic control devices at that intersection for northbound traffic, the lieutenant noted.

A 1998 white Chevy Suburban driven by Jeffrey Allen Hewes, 44, of Battle Ground, Washington, was heading east on Portland Avenue and failed to stop for a stop sign, crashing into the driver’s side of Hummel’s car in the intersection, Maniscalco said.

Hewes told officers on scene he was using his GPS to get to a Bend residence and didn’t observe the stop sign before entering the intersection.

Maniscalco said Hewes had an adult passenger and four children in his vehicle. There were no reported injuries to the children, but Hewes and his adult passenger were taken by ambulance to St. Charles Bend with non -life threatening injuries.

The lieutenant said Hummel was treated for non-life threatening injuries at the scene and released, but the DA said he was taken by private car to the hospital.

Hewes was cited for failure to obey a traffic control device., a Class B traffic violation

“I credit the Saab with potentially saving my life,” the DA wrote in a Facebook post Thursday night. “I ended up with a cracked pelvis and cracked ribs and am spending the night at the hospital. Great work by Bend PD and Bend Fire and EMS. In pain, but grateful.”

Hummel told NewsChannel 21 he was grateful to be alive. after the crash, which happened about a half-block from his home.

A nearby resident, Amy Sharman, said she had not recognized Hummel when she went to the crash scene to see if help was needed.

“When the driver of the SUV came to check on him and admit that it was his fault, Hummel was very nice, saying, ‘I’m okay — go be with your family.'”

Sharman said she lives near the intersection, and hears several horns each day.

“Drivers assume Portland Avenue has the right of way, being the main road,” she said.