Update: Police say motorcyclist was speeding before fatal crash at SE Bend intersection, may be charged

(Update: Motorcyclist still in hospital, could face criminal charges)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A 19-year-old Redmond resident was killed Friday evening when the speeding motorcycle on which he was a passenger collided head-on with an SUV at a southeast Bend intersection. Police said Monday the seriously injured motorcyclist remains hospitalized and may be charged in the fatal crash.

Malachi Longstroth, who died at the scene, was a passenger on the motorcycle when the collision happened around 6:30 p.m. at the intersection of SE Second Street and Miller Avenue, Bend Police Communications Manager Sheila Miller said.

Police have not publicly identified the 20-year-old Bend resident who was operating the motorcycle. They said he was heading north on Second Street at a high rate of speed. A 25-year-old Bend man was driving a southbound Subaru Crosstrek and was was attempting to turn east onto Miller Avenue when the crash occurred.

The impact threw both Longstroth and the motorcycle operator. Longstroth died at the scene, Miller said. The motorcyclist, a Bend resident, was transported to St. Charles Bend with serious injuries and remains at the hospital.

Responding officers performed life-saving measures at the intersection. They used an automated external defibrillator, conducted CPR and applied tourniquets before the motorcyclist was transported for medical treatment.

The driver of the Subaru was uninjured and remained at the scene, cooperating with the police investigation. A reconstruction team's work kept Second Street closed for about three hours.

Miller said Monday that the motorcycle operator remained hospitalized with serious injuries. 

"Excessive speed on the part of the motorcycle is considered a primary factor in this case," she said in a news release. "Once the investigation is complete, the Bend Police Department will refer this case to the Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office for charging consideration."  

Miller told KTVZ News that both riders on the black 2001 Suzuki motorcycle were wearing helmets at the time of the crash.

She said the speed limit on that stretch of Second Street is 30 mph. How fast the motorcycle was going "is part of that ongoing investigation," Miller told us.