Redmond man, 3 kids hurt in Deschutes Mkt. Rd. crash

A Redmond man says he tried to steer around some rocks on Deschutes Market Road north of Bend Sunday evening, causing his van to overturn and crash through a fence, sending him and his three young children to the hospital with apparent non-life-threatening injuries, officials said.

Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies responded shortly after 7:30 p.m. to the crash near Deschutes Market and Dale roads, said Sgt. Mark Eggert. They were assisted at the scene by Oregon State Police and Bend Fire medics.

Jason Theissen, 34, told deputies he was heading south in his tan Chrysler Voyager van on Deschutes Market Road and, as he passed Dale Road, encountered some rocks in his travel lane, Eggert said.

Theissen said he tried to steer around the rocks, but the van swerved to the west side of the road, onto a steep gravel shoulder, then rolled and went through a field fence, coming to rest upside down.

Theissen and his three children – two girls, 8 and 4, and a 6-year-old boy – were wearing seat belts and properly restrained in child safety seats, the sergeant said.

The driver was able to remove his children from the van, and all four were taken by ambulance to St. Charles-Bend “with what appear to be non-life-threatening injuries,” Eggert said in a news release.

Sheriff’s officers did not identify the children, so their conditions were unavailable, but Jason Theissen was in fair condition Monday morning at the Bend hospital.

A patrol deputy did find a rock about the size of a cantaloupe in the southbound travel lane near the crash scene, Eggert said.

While speed and alcohol don’t appear to be factors in the crash, Eggert said, Theissen was cited for driving without a valid Oregon driver’s license.