Kyle Lewis was out for an evening spin. He planned to do a loop from his home in the Buckman neighborhood south to Milwaukie. A few miles in, while pedaling on the Springwater Corridor path about one-third of a mile from the entrance at SE 4th and Ivon, he heard something strange: a car’s engine.
“I heard them coming up behind me,” Lewis shared with BikePortland. “I looked over my shoulder and had just enough time to swerve onto the grass before the car blew past me on the pavement doing what felt like at least 45. It was just extremely close. It must have grazed me. They didn’t slow, stop, or make any attempt to avoid or warn me.”
“We assumed it was an e-bike hauling ass. Then we realized it was a Mini Cooper coming straight toward us.”
— Erica Silveira
Kyle is just one of several Portland bike riders who are lucky to be alive after a drunk driver plowed onto the popular carfree path around 8:30 pm Thursday night. Bradley Krueger, a 43-year-old with with two prior convictions for driving under the influence, steered his Mini Countryman compact SUV onto the Springwater at its northern entrance and drove south three miles before he and his car were finally stopped by a bollard at SE Spokane.
The spot where Krueger blasted his way onto the path is one of the busiest cycling locations in Portland according to City counts. It’s considered a relaxing, safe place that many riders use to avoid more stressful routes and interactions with drivers.
Erica Silveira and her partner had dinner in Sellwood and were riding north on the Springwater to get ice cream in southeast Portland. “Since it was dusk we figured it was safer to take the trail rather than the roads,” Silveira shared with BikePortland, acknowledging the irony of her decision. After stopping for photos of deer grazing at the edge of Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge, Silveira looked up and saw a bright light heading toward them. “We assumed it was an e-bike hauling ass,” she recalled, “Then we realized it was a Mini Cooper coming straight toward us.”
Silveira and her partner were about one mile south of the SE Ivon entrance, just west of SE Holgate. With a cliff and the Willamette River on one side and a chain link fence and railroad tracks on the other, there was no escape as the light and fear intensified. “We got as far to the right of the trail as we could,” Silveira recalled. “It had to have been going over 40 mph, and it came within two feet of us.”
Aaron Kuehn wasn’t lucky enough to have a near-miss, but his run-in with Krueger could have been much worse. Kuehn was riding south near Oaks Bottom when he was clipped from behind. “I hear him coming up behind me on the long straight stretch, and think it’s a monster e-bike or something, but I didn’t turn around to look. And then he hits my hand and handlebar, sending me down,” Kuehn recalled in a message to BikePortland.
Kuehn, who happens to be chair of cycling advocacy group BikeLoud PDX, says he was shocked and angry.
There’s a bollard at the SE 4th and Ivon springwater entrance. But according to several witness statements and the condition of the bollard, it was likely in place when Krueger decided to drive over it. After he was almost hit, Kyle Lewis turned around, went back to the entry point and found the bollard in the grass a few yards from its base.
“This is vehicular violence,” Kuehn said, in a statement to BikePortland. “The driver did nothing to avoid people walking and biking and plowed straight toward them.” “That they were inebriated isn’t the point, it’s what they chose to do when they were,” Kuehn continued. “They chose to commit a highly violent act with their vehicle that could have been so much worse. If the other people on the trail hadn’t jumped or veered out of the way, if I had been a couple inches to the left, we would have suffered severe injuries.”
Cars on bike paths in Portland has unfortunately become a relatively regular occurrence. From what I’ve heard from readers, and based on past stories I’ve covered, most of the people who drive on paths are not as reckless or dangerous as Krueger. The drivers are typically coming or going from a tent encampment. Portland Parks has struggled to find a solution that keeps miscreant drivers out, while still making it easy and welcoming for legal path users.
Another issue with this specific case, according to what Kuehn has learned in the days since he was hit, is that the bollards at SE Ivon and SE Spokane are routinely removed by City of Portland work crews and vandals. If the bollards aren’t returned to their base or secured properly, they won’t deter drivers like Krueger. Kuehn plans to urge Portland Parks & Recreation to upgrade the bollards so something like this is less likely to happen again.
Because the bollard at SE Spokane did its job, Krueger was arrested after his three-mile rampage and cited with felony hit-and-run as well as four additional misdemeanor charges including; reckless driving, driving under the influence, criminal mischief, and recklessly endangering another person.
Kuehn plans to press charges if given the opportunity. He believes Krueger should no longer have the privilege of driving a car.
At his first court appearance on Friday, May 17th — despite this being his third DUI charge — Krueger was given a bail amount of $2,500. With the required 10% deposit, he was released after paying $250 and is due back in court May 28th.