Around noon on Thursday, a person driving a Ford Escape SUV failed to control their car, then drove it up a curb and onto a sidewalk where two people were standing. The driver struck both people and nearly hit a child who were gathered next to a bus stop. One of them — 49-year-old DaRon Craig, whose family and friends have left candles, flowers, and written messages at a makeshift memorial — died at the scene. The other person is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries.
In a press statement at the scene Portland Police Bureau Sgt. Kevin Allen said, “The officers that responded described it as an absolutely chaotic scene where people were traumatized.” Harrowing witness accounts shared in The Oregonian say the driver was going at least 70 mph.
According to the PPB, the driver of the Ford was going northbound on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. After driving onto the sidewalk somewhere between NE Jessup and NE Jarrett, they continued north toward the busy intersection with NE Ainsworth which has a Safeway, Starbucks and Walgreens. At Ainsworth the driver hit another person who was in their car waiting to turn left. The driver then jumped the median island just north of Ainsworth and struck two other drivers head-on before finally bringing their Ford Escape to rest.
In total, the driver who caused this mid-day rampage hit six people.
The PPB says they don’t believe the violent collisions were intentional. In a statement, police said the Ford Escape driver had two prosthetic legs, “but it’s unclear if that was a factor in the crashes.”
This stretch of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd straddles the King, Woodlawn, Vernon, and Piedmont neighborhoods. It’s a city-owned former state highway (99E) and has five general travel lanes and no shoulder. The speed limit is 30 mph. PBOT used to have an automated enforcement camera installed right where the driver came to rest on Thursday, but it was recently removed as part of a vendor changeover.
With many popular food and business destinations, as well as a busy bus line, these blocks are always full of people walking and rolling. There are crosswalks and median island to try and calm traffic, but with nearly the entire road space dedicated to driving and a 30 mph speed limit, conditions at this location are stressful and dangerous.
My post office is just a few blocks from here and I regularly bike on this exact sidewalk. I like biking on the sidewalk here because it’s a lot more interesting than taking side streets. I felt sick today as I stood at Craig’s memorial, stared at his family photos, and read the dozens of messages from people who knew him.
“Always being the best father figure I know. I’m going to miss you so much,” read one of them. “You weren’t just a good husband, you were a great man,” read another.
Many lives were changed in just a few minutes. And unfortunately, on a street like Martin Luther King Jr., it could happen again — at any time. The way that street is designed, there’s simply no room for error. We continue to expect Portlanders to live and thrive outside of cars while making them exist in places where they can so easily be killed.
Craig is the 20th person to be killed on Portland streets so far this year.
