Powell Butte woman charged in DUII pickup-bike hit-and-run

A Powell Butte woman faces DUII, hit-and-run and other charges in a pickup-bicycle crash near Antelope Saturday evening that injured a Keizer man who was found lying on the highway several hours later by a passing motorist, Oregon State Police said.

The cyclist, John Henry Maurice, 59, was taken first by ambulance to St. Charles Madras, then flown by air ambulance to St. Charles Bend, where he was in fair condition late Tuesday, according to a nursing supervisor.

Troopers said Melissa Brooke Herz, 56, was driving a 2007 Toyota Tundra heading west on state Highway 218 near milepost 15 in Wasco County, pulling an eight-foot Aluma trailer, when the pickup’s right struck Maurice, who also was heading west and riding a 30-speed road bike.

OSP said Herz left the scene, driving south on Highway 97 until she stopped in the travel lane and turned on her parking lights. The pickup was called in as a possible disabled motorist.

Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies were on the scene performing a field sobriety test when an OSP senior trooper headed to the crash site saw them and stopped, troopers said. He noticed a mirror from the truck was broken off, and later saw a mirror at the crash scene. He contacted the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, which arrested Herz on charges of DUII-alcohol, failure to perform the duties of a driver, reckless driving and second-degree assault.

Herz was booked into the Jefferson County Jail in Madras late Saturday and released the next day after posting 10 percent of her $3,750 bail, a jail officer said. OSP troopers said the case was being referred to the Wasco County District Attorney’s Office for formal charges.

A friend of Maurice, Mark Dodge of Keizer, said Maurice is an avid cyclist who was training for several upcoming long-distance competitions. He said Maurice was riding alone at the time of the crash and was found by another cyclist in the same riding group.

Maurice was thrown from his bike and suffered a broken leg and several broken ribs, along with head injuries, Dodge said. He underwent one surgery at the Bend hospital, and more will be needed, Dodge said. He added that Maurice’s wife, Joanne, traveled to Bend to be with her husband at the hospital.

Dodge said it’s the third time a friend or co-worker has been killed or injured by a hit-and-run driver in the past three years.

“It is time for the Legislature to initiate and impose further consequences for these drivers and promote awareness of providing ‘good Samaritan’ help if involved in such an accident,” he wrote in an e-mail.

Herz had no comment on the matter when reached by phone on Wednesday.