No Injuries in Freeway Crash Involving Police Motorcycle

A driver is cited after losing control and colliding with OSP motorcycle on shoulder of Interstate 205.

Photo of crash scene courtesy: Oregon State Police

(PORTLAND, Ore,.) - Oregon State Police say a motorcycle trooper avoided injury this morning when his parked motorcycle was struck on the freeway shoulder by an out-of-control car. Lieutenant Gregg Hastings with OSP says the car had been involved in a collision after trying to change lanes on Interstate 205 near Gladstone. According to OSP Sergeant Walt Anderson, Senior Trooper Mark Kingma had pulled over a Toyota pickup around 9:30 AM, on northbound Interstate 205 near milepost 11 north of the 82nd Drive overpass. He was off his OSP motorcycle on the passenger side of the pick-up talking to its driver about a traffic violation, when his motorcycle was struck by a 1997 Volkswagen Jetta driven by 23-year old Katy Brownell of Tigard. According to Kingma, the driver was northbound changing from the left to center lane when she lost control and struck the rear of a 2007 International flatbed truck. After impact the Volkswagen spun toward the right shoulder, struck the left side of the OSP motorcycle and then bumped into the rear of the Toyota pickup. No one was injured, but Brownell was cited for Careless Driving. The Toyota pickup's driver is identified as 22-year old Jeremy Esperum of Oregon City. The International truck's driver is identified as 41-year old Kurt Fry of northeast Portland. The OSP motorcycle and Brownell's car were towed from the scene. OSP says this incident is a reminder to drivers to leave more space when changing lanes. It is one of several safety messages police, ODOT and the Oregon Trucking Association hope to get across this week through public service announcements, posters, highway signs, and more as part of a safety campaign on Interstate 5 in the Willamette Valley. This week, police officers will be riding in commercial trucks looking for car and truck drivers who engage in risky driving behavior such as speeding, following too closely, and unsafe lane changes. They say the "Ticket Aggressive Cars and Trucks" (TACT) campaign is modeled after a successful operation conducted in Washington. More information is available on ODOT's website at oregon.gov/ODOT/MCT/SAFETY.shtml/SAFETY.shtml.