Bad day on roads: Boy, 9, hit on bike in DRW
A 9-year-old Bend boy, riding his bike without a helmet, was injured Monday evening when he rode into the path of a car in Deschutes River Woods, authorities said, just one in a string of crashes around the region.
Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched at 5:17 p.m. to the vehicle-vs.-bicyclist crash near 60237 Cheyenne Road, just south of Cinder Butte Road, said sheriff’s Sgt. Bryan Husband.
Sheriff’s detectives and Bend Fire medics also responded to the crash scene. The boy, whose name was not released, was taken by ambulance to St. Charles-Bend, accompanied by his parents, who had arrived on scene, Husband said, adding that the extent of his injuries were not yet known.
An investigation determined that a white 2001 Dodge Intrepid driven by John Christensen, 90, of Bend, was heading south on Cheyenne Road when the boy entered the car’s lane of travel on his bike, Husband said.
Alcohol does not appear to be a factor in the crash, Husband said as the investigation continued.
About two hours earlier, around 3:10 p.m., a California woman who was not wearing a seat belt was injured when her SUV left Hwy. 20W near Tumalo and rolled an unknown number of times, throwing her to the ground, Oregon State Police said.
Troopers said Muriel E. Wilcox, 57, of Palo Alto, Calif., was heading east near milepost 13 (close to the Three Sisters viewpoint pull-out) when she lost control of her 2003 Toyota 4Runner and drove off the highway. It rolled at least once before coming to rest back on the highway.
Wilcox was thrown from her SUV and suffered “serious (but) non-life-threatening injuries” in the crash, said OSP Lt. Gregg Hastings. An AirLink helicopter initially was dispatched on “auto-launch,” but she was taken by ambulance to St. Charles-Bend, where she was listed in fair condition Tuesday, according to a nursing supervisor.
OSP said Tuesday that Wilcox was cited on charges of DUII, reckless driving, unlawful possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, and failure to properly use her safety belt.
Around 11:20 a.m. Monday, a semi-truck driver who swerved to miss a deer ran off the Old Bend-Redmond Highway near Young Avenue south of Redmond, causing the truck to partially overturn and spill a large load of plate-glass panes in the road and an adjacent field, sheriff’s deputies said.
The truck was headed north on Old Bend-Redmond, approaching Young Avenue, when the driver, Brian Dever of Bend, said he swerved to miss the deer, left the road on the right side and partially rolled over, said Sgt. Vance Lawrence.
The crash and clean-up closed the road for about an hour, Lawrence said, adding that Dever was cited for careless driving.
Consolidated Towing removed the truck and trailer, and county public works and ODOT crews assisted at the scene, but Lawrence advised drivers to use caution as “there is still some residual glass in the area.”
And earlier Monday morning, around 9 a.m., a driver was injured when a vehicle overturned on state Highway 31, about a mile south of the Highway 97 intersection near La Pine.
