A man died while bicycling on Sunday night; but the police have been so busy with five other major crashes (including several fatalities), they have only now been able to share more details with us.
According to the Portland Police Bureau (PPB), at just after 9:00 pm, 48-year-old James Querirolo was riding northbound on the sidewalk on the east side of SE 148th Ave while a person (name not yet released) operating a Hyundai Santa Fe (small SUV) was headed southbound on 148th. She attempted to make a low-speed left turn from 148th on to SE Mill eastbound. “The driver had completed about 90% of her turn when the cyclist rode off the sidewalk and directly in front of her. She could not avoid striking the cyclist,” reads a PPB statement.
happened, based on PPB investigation.
“This was a low-speed impact, with the bicycle and vehicle left almost undamaged,” the statement continues. “We have been told he died of head and neck trauma,” said PPB Sgt. Todd Davis, who responded to the scene on Sunday. “I honestly can’t say if a helmet would have saved him.”
Davis also points out that Querirolo did not have any lighting equipment on his bicycle.
According to the investigation, the driver of Hyundai was not impaired by drugs or alcohol and speed was not a factor in the collision. As for Querilolo, Sgt. Davis says, “We are waiting for the toxicology report from the Medical Examiner’s Office to determine if alcohol played a role in the cyclist’s death.”
This is the second fatal bicycle collision that has happened on Portland roads this year.