(Photos: Portland Fire & Rescue)
Before sunrise this morning at about 6:30 am, a man riding his bike south on NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd just past Lloyd Blvd on the I-84 overpass, was involved in a collision with a motor vehicle.
According to a police statement, the man on the bike collided with one car and then, while lying in the street, was struck by another car that was “unable to stop.” The second car pinned the man face down and rescue crews had to rush to the scene for a “technical extraction.”
When fire crews arrived, they reported that the man was in a life threatening situation. Then, as firefighters began to put together a plan, they realized how many of them were already standing around. “Given the critical condition of the patient,” reads the statement, “firefighters opted to forgo standard procedure and worked together to lift the 3200 lb. vehicle off of the patient.”
Eight firefighters then lifted the PT Cruiser up off the trapped man lying on the road. “It wasn’t pretty but it worked,” said firefighter Mick Held.
The man was transferred to Emanuel Hospital with life-threatening injuries.
One person who saw the incident emailed BikePortland to tell us he was two cars back when he “saw a bike shoot out from under a vehicle.” He added that the man who was bicycling appeared to have no lights. After stopping and getting out of his car, the person driving exclaimed that the bike rider “Came out of nowhere and flew right under my car,” says the witness.
The images below were taken by Portland Fire & Rescue…
UPDATE 1/5, 11:05 am: The PPB has issued an update to this story. I have posted it below…
The investigator concluded that the man on the bicycle was traveling southbound in the far right lane (the number 4 lane) and changed lanes unlawfully into a car traveling in the next lane (the number 3 lane). The man on the bicycle struck the car and was then thrown in the path of a car also traveling south (in the number 2 lane) pinning the man on the bicycle under the car, Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard in 4 lanes all southbound at the I-84 overpass.
The man struck and pinned under the car is 30 year-old Samuel Guthrie and he was cited for Unlawful Lane Change and Improper Use of Lane.