Redmond 19-year-old improves after Old Bend-Redmond Hwy. crash

(Update: Driver improves to serious condition)

A 19-year-old Redmond woman was critically injured Sunday morning when she lost control of her car on the Old Bend-Redmond Highway and it crossed into the oncoming lane, colliding with an oncoming pickup truck, Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies said. She improved to serious condition on Monday, officials said.

Deputies and Bend Fire medics responded around 8:50 a.m. to the reported two-vehicle crash on the highway near Pohaku Road, about four miles north of Bend, said sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Sundberg.

An initial investigation found Michaela Dismore, 19, of Redmond, was heading south on the highway at the wheel of a red 1998 Ford Escort when she lost control of the car, causing it to cross the center line and strike the front end of a white 1997 Ford F-250 driven by David Mobley, 28, of Bend, Sundberg said.

Dismore was seriously injured, while Mobley was unhurt and helped render initial aid to the other driver, as did several bystanders who stopped to offer help, the sergeant said.

First responders arrived to find Dismore still in the car and provided first aid while Air Link was called in. The helicopter flew the woman to St. Charles Bend, where a house supervisor said she was in critical condition late Sunday afternoon. The hospital said she’d improved to fair condition Monday afternoon.

Both drivers were alone in their vehicles, Sundberg said.

The Old Bend-Redmond Highway was closed between Rogers and Pohaku roads for about an hour and 15 minutes due to the crash and investigation.

“An initial investigation found speed was likely a factor in the cause of the crash,” Sundberg said in a news release, adding, “There is no evidence to show either subject involved were impaired.”

The Bend Fire Department and Oregon State Police assisted sheriff’s deputies at the scene.