Bend man injured in Cline Falls Highway crash

A Bend man suffered non-life-threatening injuries Friday when he swerved to avoid an animal and his car left Cline Falls Highway in Tumalo, striking a large tree, Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies said.

Deputies and Bend Fire Department medics were dispatched around 11:15 a.m. to the reported single-car crash on Cline Falls Highway at White Rock Loop, said Sgt. Aaron Harding.

Deputies learned the driver, Oswald Divinere, was heading south at the wheel of a 2005 Lexus 330 and swerved to avoid the animal, colliding with a large tree off the east shoulder of the highway, Harding said. He added that deputies were unable to determine the species or location of the animal.

Divinere, alone in the car, was taken to St. Charles Bend, where a house supervisor said he was treated and released.

The crash closed the highway for about an hour.