Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog
In a scenario that reads like a scene from a movie or television show, a 19-year-old motorcycle rider was arrested Friday at the end of a high-speed chase near Salem. According to The Oregonian, the chase included a dramatic Oregon motorcycle and car crash that, miraculously, left no one injured.
The incident began when a Marion County sheriffs’ deputy saw a lone motorcyclist zoom past him at 112 miles per hour. According to the Salem Statesman-Journal, the officer chased the motorcyclist southbound on I-5 at speeds as high as 125 miles per hour but eventually relented for fear of endangering other drivers. When the biker tried to exit at Mission Street SE, however, he lost control of his motorcycle and was hurled off the bike as it careened off-road. The riderless motorcycle then slammed into a car as the rider attempted to flee on foot, according to The Oregonian.
By an extraordinary stroke of luck neither the biker nor the driver of the car his motorcycle hit was injured. Once apprehended the 19-year-old suspect was charged with a long list of offenses: “reckless driving, attempting to elude police, hit-and-run, driving without insurance and failing to have a motorcycle endorsement, as well as several citations,” the Statesman-Journal reported. The rider, according to The Oregonian, later told police he fled from them because he wanted to avoid getting “another” speeding ticket.
While it may be some comfort that this Oregon motorcycle crash led to the imprisonment of such an outrageously irresponsible rider, the driver of the car he hit as well as the many other motorists he endangered need to ask themselves whether prison alone serves the cause of justice.
Consulting a Salem or Portland motorcycle accident lawyer would be an important first step for the rogue biker’s victims in determining the best way to make themselves whole and see that justice is served in the wake of an accident like this. Beyond the unlucky driver whose car was hit by a flying motorcycle, one has to consider property damage the motorcycle may have caused and even incidental damage to cars whose drivers had to swerve to get out of the motorbiker’s way. All of these are issues best addressed with the help of an Oregon personal injury attorney specializing in motorcycle accidents.
Salem Statesman-Journal: High-speed accident results in charges
The Oregonian: Motorcyclist doing 125 mph gets ticket, no injuries after crash on I-5
