DA: No crime in fatal Bend cyclist-FedEx truck crash

A FedEx driver who struck and killed a bicyclist at a downtown Bend intersection last November is being charged with a traffic violation, but not a crime, Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel announced Monday.

The cyclist, Jonathan Chase Adams, 31, of Bend, died Nov. 22 of injuries he suffered when his bike collided with a FedEx delivery truck at the southeast corner of the intersection of Northwest Wall Street and Portland Avenue.

The delivery truck driver, Trenton Sage, 51, of Terrebonne, “fully cooperated in the investigation and was not impaired or using his cellphone at the time of the crash,” Hummel’s statement said.

Hummel said he had completed his investigation and determined that Sage committed a traffic violation, failure to yield to rider in a bicycle lane (Oregon Revised Statute 811.050) and has charged him with that offense.

The DA said he “concluded that while Sage’s actions constituted a violation of Oregon’s traffic code, they did not constitute a violation of Oregon’s criminal code; thus he did not charge Sage with a crime.”

Police said at the time that the FedEx truck was heading north on Wall Street and turning east onto Olney Avenue, when the collision occurred.

Sage is due for his first court appearance on the citation on Wednesday morning.

“I wish Jonathan’s family well as they continue to grieve for the loss of their loved one,” Hummel said. “This was a heart-wrenching case for all involved.

“My decision to not charge the driver of the FedEx truck with a crime was not because I devalued Jonathan’s life or disrespected his family. And my decision to charge the driver with a traffic violation was not the product of animus based on Jonathan losing his life.

“I charged a traffic violation because a traffic law was violated and I declined to charge a crime because a crime was not committed,” the district attorney concluded.