Police Car Unable to Avoid Crashed Motorcyclist After Chase

The cyclist was struck by a police car after what was described as a high speed crash.

Salem-News.com

(OAKRIDGE, Ore.) - Oregon State Police troopers are continuing their investigation into a Sunday evening fatal traffic crash involving a motorcyclist on Highway 58. Police say the rider was attempting to elude Oakridge police near their city when the crash happened.

Chief Louis Gomez with the Oakridge Police Department says that during the early evening hours on September 28th, a Lane County Sheriff's Office deputy observed a motorcycle westbound on Highway 58 east of Oakridge near milepost 58 traveling about 90 mph.

"The deputy attempted to catch up to the motorcycle to stop it, but the motorcycle operator sped up and the deputy lost sight of it. Information was relayed to local police agencies to be on the lookout for the motorcycle," Gomez said. An Oakridge police officer reported spotting a motorcycle around 7:00 PM, entering the east end of Oakridge near milepost 36 and attempted to stop it for a lane change violation.

The officer said the motorcycle again quickly accelerated to a high rate of speed westbound on Highway 58 from Crestview Street. Gomez says Oakridge Police Officer Zechariah Ames was approaching on Crestview Street and moved into position behind the first Oakridge officer who was in an unmarked patrol car. "Officer Ames was in a marked police car and moved into the lead position ahead of the unmarked police car. As the motorcycle reportedly continued driving at a high rate of speed in a reckless manner westbound, it approached a curve near milepost 28 at an extremely high rate of speed."

Due to the excessive speed, the motorcycle collided with a guardrail ejecting the operator onto the roadway, according to Gomez.

"Officer Ames was unable to avoid the motorcycle operator lying in the roadway and struck him." The motorcycle operator, identified as 43-year old Eric Bracken Tyner of Bend, was pronounced deceased at the scene. OSP troopers from the Springfield and Oakridge offices are continuing the investigation. Lane County Sheriff's Office, Oakridge Fire Department, and ODOT assisted at the scene. Highway 58 was closed about four hours. Officer Ames has been a full-time officer for Oakridge police for about 2 1/2 years.