UPDATE 5/28: The victim has been identified as 22-year-old Mark Angeles. Learn more about him in our follow-up post.
A man was killed today around noon when he was involved in a collision with a tow truck at SE Cesar Chavez (39th) and Gladstone.
Portland Police have not released any details, other than saying the tow truck operator is cooperating with the investigation.
Reader Tony Tapay lives a few blocks away and called us from the scene a few minutes ago.
He said the tow-truck is currently stopped in the northbound lanes of Cesar Chavez. The bike and the body are at rest in the northeast corner of the intersection in front of a Plaid Pantry store just beyond the bike box and green-colored pavement. Tapay tells us the tow-truck is operated by North Oregon Towing, which appears to be based in Estacada.
Reader Max C. also emailed us from the scene. He said patrons who were eating outside a cafe “were in shock.”
Another person on Twitter who claims they saw the collision happen says the tow-truck operator was driving east on Gladstone and made a left turn (north) onto Cesar Chavez. The bicycle rider, he says, was coming downhill on Gladstone traveling westbound prior to the collision.
Gladstone has a bike lane, a parking lane, and one standard vehicle lane at this intersection. It also has bike boxes on both sides of the intersection and green-colored pavement. Cesar Chavez has four standard lanes with no bike lane.
Ironically, just about one mile away, PBOT and the PPB are doing a crosswalk enforcement action at SE 26th and Powell where Alistair Corkett lost his leg in a collision with a truck driver earlier this month.
The police have the entire area closed off and we are waiting to find out more details.
If anyone saw what happened or has more information, please drop us a line.
This is the first fatal collision involving a bicycle rider in Portland in over a year.
UPDATE 12:02 pm on May 28th: The Portland Police has just released the following update on this collision:
The tow truck driver has been identified as 40-year-old Jolene Friedow of Estacada. Friedow works for North Portland Towing.
The investigation into the crash is ongoing. Investigators have learned that Angeles was riding his bicycle westbound on Southeast Gladstone Street, approaching the intersection with Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard. Friedow was facing eastbound, towing another vehicle, waiting to turn left (northbound) on Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard. Friedow turned left, colliding with Angeles in the intersection.