Bend couple killed in Mt. Washington Dr. motorcycle crash
(Update: Police release victims’ names)
A Bend husband and wife died Saturday evening after their motorcycle crashed on a curve on Mt. Washington Drive and they were thrown from it, then struck by an oncoming SUV, police said.
Bend police and fire medics, Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies and Oregon State police responded to the crash, reported at 6:34 p.m. on Northwest Mt. Washington Drive just west of Archie Briggs Road, Lt. Brian Beekman said.
Both riders of a crashed 1976 Honda motorcycle were unconscious when crews arrived, with bystanders performing CPR that first responders continued.
The motorcycle operator, James Robert Graham, 43, died at the scene, despite lifesaving efforts, Beekman said. His wife and passenger, Shannon Elizabeth Lewis, 33, was taken to St. Charles Bend, where she later died of her injuries.
A preliminary investigation found that the motorcyclists were riding westbound on Mt. Washington Drive when Graham lost control in a curve and crashed in the westbound travel lane, the lieutenant said.
The motorcycle and both of its riders slid into the oncoming lane, he said, and the couple struck an oncoming Jeep Wrangler driven by a 50-year-old Bend woman.
The SUV driver remained at the scene of the crash. Beekman said an investigation indicated she had been traveling at or under the speed limit. Based on the available evidence, he said, she is not suspected of wrongdoing.
The crash investigation and reconstruction closed a stretch of Mt. Washington Drive until early Sunday morning.
The investigation is ongoing, Beekman said, and any witnesses to the crash or events leading up to it are asked to contact Bend police at 541-693-6911.
