Bend driver critically injured in DUII Highway 97 crash
A Bend man apparently driving drunk on Highway 97 south of Redmond refused to pull over for a Deschutes County sheriff’s deputy Monday afternoon and his pickup nearly struck an Oregon Department of Transportation worker, then left the road and crashed, critically injuring the driver, deputies said.
Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched around 2:45 p.m. to complaint about a pickup leaving Redmond heading south on Highway 97, with the first caller reporting they saw a bike come out of the truck bed and a second caller seeing it go into oncoming traffic, Sgt. William Bailey said.
A deputy in the area spotted the gray 2003 Chevy Silverado pickup still heading south, just north of Deschutes Junction, and turned on his emergency lights to initiate a stop. But the driver, later identified as Greg L. Willis, 56 didn’t respond or yield, Bailey said.
As the pickup approached the Tumalo/Deschutes Market Road exit at Deschutes Junction, Willis drifted onto the highway shoulder and nearly struck ODOT worker Robert Morrow, who was replacing yellow plastic highway markers on a curve, known to agency workers as “candles,” said Bailey and ODOT spokesman Peter Murphy.
The pickup then left the road at highway speed, went airborne and crashed into a ditch, Bailey said.
Morrow, shaken but uninjured, told NewsChannel 21, “I was covered up with dust, and then all of a sudden realized that a vehicle at a high rate of speed went by me by two feet – missed me by two feet. So my life passed before my eyes for a minute.”
Willis was taken by ambulance to St. Charles Bend for what initially appeared to be minor injuries, Bailey said. He was admitted with serious injuries, however, and a house supervisor said Willis was in critical condition Monday evening.
Alcohol is a suspected factor in the crash, the sergeant said. The crash and investigation, which also involved a police drone, reduced the southbound lanes to one lane for a time.
Willis was cited on felony charges of DUII and driving with a suspended license, as well as reckless endangerment of a highway worker.
Sheriff’s deputies were assisted at the scene by Oregon State Police, Bend police and firefighters and ODOT.
It was the first of two Bend-area DUII crashes in about two hours. The second occurred on Northeast Dalton Street at Sedalia Loop.
Police said a woman was arrested on DUII and reckless driving charges after a T-bone crash that left one vehicle on its side. Corporal Matt Baldwin said speed and alcohol were factors in the crash, which witnesses said fatally injured a dog. Further information has not been released.
If you see a suspected drunk or impaired driver, you’re urged to report it by calling 911 or non-emergency dispatch at 541-693-6911.
