Medford man killed in Hwy. 26 head-on crash
(Update: OSP releases names, details of crash)
A Medford man was killed and a Gresham man was injured Tuesday evening in a head-on crash of a van and SUV on U.S. Highway 26 on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, Oregon State Police said Wednesday.
Troopers and emergency personnel responded around 5:30 p.m. to the reported crash at milepost 74, near the junction with state Highway 216, OSP Captain Tim Fox said.
A preliminary investigation found that a red 2000 Ford E-350 van driven by Lanny Hawley, 65, of Gresham, was heading east on the highway when he crossed over the center line for unknown reasons and struck an oncoming black 2016 GMC Terrain driven by Kyle Estes, 52, of Medford, Fox said.
Estes died at the scene of his injuries, Fox said, while Hawley was flown by air ambulance to St. Charles Bend, where a house supervisor said he was in fair condition Friday morning..
The crash and investigation closed the highway for about six hours, the captain said.
OSP was assisted by Warm Springs Police, ODOT, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and Jefferson County EMS.