Delivery rider shares harrowing account of assault on SE 18th Avenue

If you live in southeast Portland and order food online via Uber Eats or other apps, it might have been delivered by Scot Hinson.

Hinson was in the middle of a delivery, riding northbound on Southeast 18th between Stark and Washington on Monday, when he became one of the victims of Paul Rivas’ intentional vehicular rampage.

Here’s what happened to Hinson, in his own words (edited for clarity and brevity):

“I had just come from Pad Thai Kitchen with two orders, soups, ice teas and like ten pounds of food on my back in one of the big square boxes. I was headed north on 18th between Washington and Stark when this [Honda] Element came around the corner going really fast.

He drifted in my lane, so I tried hugging the parked car on my right. But then he accelerated and turned even more towards me. I had nowhere to go, but was sure he would correct himself somehow.

Instead he hit me head-on, lifting me and my bike (my feet were in pedal-straps) up onto his hood as he accelerated more. My bike dropped off the side after about 5 yards or so, but I was still on the hood with the box of food on my back for another 20 yards. He then seemed to swerve to the other side, dropping me onto the street.

Somehow I landed on my knees and elbows and face on the asphalt. Luckily the visor on my helmet hit the ground before my face. It snapped off but my helmet did alright. I’ve used this old horse-riding helmet that I found in a free box for years. It has saved me a couple times already.

I lay still for a minute partially under a parked car trying to figure out if I could move and what might be wrong. I un-wedged myself from under the car, stood up and walked towards my bike a few yards back. It was mangled with the forks pressed up against the frame, handlebars bent towards the center on one side, and the rear wheel at the end of the block. By the time I sat down on the curb next to the bike, people from the houses and apartments were coming to see how I was.

Not much longer after that I started hearing sirens and heard the revving engine of the Honda speeding down Stark and slamming into something. I couldn’t see what it was, but quite a few officers showed up on the scene and I just sat for a while longer.

I remember thinking I will just sit, catch my breath, and put my bike back together so I could go home. I didn’t realize how jacked-up my bike was.

I called Uber and told them what happened and waited to talk to the police and get checked out by the EMT. They recommended I go the hospital so my wife came and got me. I actually fed my kids some of the food I was about to deliver. The soup and everything did surprisingly well.

I went to the ER and they stitched up my knees and told me I had a small fracture in my tibia. I’m hoping I don’t have much of a cast because just two days sitting in a chair is about to kill me.

All-in-all, in hindsight I realized my bicycle saved me from much worse injury as it took most of the impact.

I am lucky compared to some others involved.”

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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