Driver in Bend parking lot plunge dies
An 87-year-old Powell Butte man whose SUV crashed through a second-floor guardrail and plunged to the ground Monday at The Center medical facility has died, family and hospital officials said Wednesday.
After suffering a medical emergency, Richard Theodore Marsellos’ SUV sped backwards, hitting two cars, then forward through a handrail and guardrail, plunging about 15 feet to the ground below, police said.
Marsellos had been in critical condition at St. Charles-Bend, where he was taken after the crash that happened around 11:25 a.m. Monday at The Center, an orthopedic and neurosurgical facility located next door at 2200 NE Neff Road.
Police Lt. Chris Carney said a preliminary investigation found that Marsellos was in his 2010 Buick SUV, parked at The Center while his wife was inside the facility.
Marsellos apparently suffered a “medical emergency” and his SUV accelerated backwards, striking two parked cars, Carney said. It then accelerated forward and went through the handrail and guardrail, plunging off the parking area and to the level below.
Some construction workers heard the crash and got Marsellos out of the car. Paramedics and nurses did CPR for about 15 minutes before they took him to the nearby hospital ER.
The car tumbled on its end onto the landscaping below, with one end coming to rest against the medical facility’s brick exterior wall.
