Car hits stuck semi making Hwy. 97 U-turn
A Washington state man was flown from a Bend hospital to a Portland one in critical condition Saturday night, 24 hours after his car slammed into a semi-truck whose driver tried to make a U-turn and got stuck on Highway 97 in northern Klamath County, Oregon State Police reported.
Several citizens pulled Brent Campbell, 49, of West Richland, Wash., from the burning wreckage of his 2003 Saturn, one of three cars that collided with the truck driven by Roger Macomber, 69, of Redmond, said OSP Lt. Gregg Hastings.
The crash occurred shortly after 7 p.m. Friday on Highway 97 four miles north of the Highway 58 junction, Hastings said.
Macomber was driving a Kenworth truck northbound, pulling an unloaded flatbed semi-trailer, when he tried to make a U-turn near milepost 191, the lieutenant said.
The trailer became high-centered and was stopped when Campbell’s car crashed into the trailer and caught fire. Two other vehicles also collided with the truck.
Campbell was flown by AirLink to St. Charles Bend, where a nursing supervisor said he was in critical condition and was flown again by AirLink on Saturday night to Oregon Health and Sciences University for further treatment.
“Enforcement action is pending review of the completed investigation with the Klamath County District Attorney’s Office,” Hastings said in a news release. Trooper Jeremiah Beckert is the lead investigator, he added.
The crash and investigation blocked the highway for about two hours before one lane was open. OSP troopers were assisted at the scene by the Crescent Rural Fire Protection District and ODOT.
