The person with the green traffic signal went through the intersection. The person with the red signal failed to stop and hit the person with the green signal, who sustained serious injuries in the collision. The entire incident was clearly captured on video.
What happened to Lisa Timmerman while cycling on Southeast Clinton Street on June 27th, 2024 was as much of an open-and-shut case you could ever get. Even the responding officer understood that the driver of the blue sedan that hit Timmerman was at fault (and said so in the police report). But the officer chose to not issue a citation to the driver because she was, “remorseful and apologetic for hitting the cyclist.”
This jaw-dropping reason for letting someone off the hook who so clearly and egregiously failed to operate their vehicle in a safe manner was was hard for Timmerman (and any rational person) to swallow. On November 17th, 2025 she filed a complaint with the City of Portland’s Independent Police Review (IPR), claiming that the officer who worked her case should have issued the driver a citation.
The response from IPR wasn’t what Timmerman hoped for.
“In this case, the officer’s actions appear to be within policy,” wrote IPR Director Ross Caldwell. “Portland Police Bureau Directive gives officers discretion to issue citations. This is even true when a driver appears to be at fault. Because the Directive allows for this discretion, we cannot prove that there was misconduct.”
That makes sense from a technical and policy point-of-view; but its implications are maddening in the real world where there are vast disparities in the safety of road users and where so many people drive cars as if they are the only ones on the road.
“It seems like we could come up with all the creative consequences we want to deter dangerous driving,” Timmerman shared with me via email after reading the IPR response. “But if individual officers are not committed to roadway safety, it ultimately doesn’t matter.”
Timmerman added that she recently received a parking ticket, paid the $165 fine (she admits reading a sign incorrectly), and couldn’t help but notice the contrast in penalties.
On December 11th, Deputy City Administrator of Public Safety Bob Cozzie emailed Portland city councilors after several of them inquired to his office about Timmeman’s case. Speaking for the PPB, Cozzie wrote, “They recognize that some people feel frustrated that a citation was not issued in this case. PPB and I hear that concern, and we don’t take it lightly.”
“I disagree,” Timmerman said, when I asked her to respond to Cozzie’s statement. “I feel like they did take it lightly. This seems like a ‘thoughts and prayers’ response to me.”
What’s particularly galling about this case is that community and traffic safety advocates worked hard to pass a law in 2007 that addresses this exact situation: Where a driver causes serious injuries to a vulnerable road user and doesn’t face stiff enough consequences. To have someone simply say “Oops I’m sorry” to an officer and get off scot-free makes a mockery of that law.
In his email to councilors, Cozzie wrote that, “a citation is only a part of the potential consequence, the driver may also face civil liability.” This is also known as the “let the insurance companies figure it out,” approach. But that’s inherently unfair and unjust. “It puts the burden and cost of seeking the remedy on the crash victim,” Timmerman shared with me. She also pointed out that Oregon insurance minimums have not kept up with current medical costs. And, she says, “It’s a highly inequitable system because the outcome is dependent on who hits you: The outcome is completely different if a middle aged successful business person hits you versus a recent college grad versus a hit-and-run or uninsured driver.”
We need a better solution. What happened to Timmerman should never happen again.
“I just want there to be some consequence to communicate to the driver that this was very serious and they need to not repeat this action ever again,” she wrote to me via email. “There’s some real cognitive dissonance when we say safety is a priority, we know this is a dangerous corridor, and yet, when we stare the real-life consequences in the face we fail to act.”
Thanks for reading.
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One thing we can do, which hopefully won’t be too controversial, is to raise the minimum liability coverage and index it to inflation or tie it to the actual costs of a crash in some way.
This only addresses a piece of the problem, but it’s one that seems manageable.
I would also support creating a fund to help people injured by uninsured or underinsured drivers, perhaps funded by a surcharge on gasoline or vehicle registrations.
Or funded by PCEF.
Yeah, a gas tax and increased registration fees! Surely nobody will neurotically oppose that and gather signatures for a ballot measure.
I would still support it 🙂
I am interested.
I’ve been present at two crashes where the motor vehicle operator was clearly at fault and a police officer blandly refused to write a citation. In my case a potentially serious incident resulted only in scratches on my bike, a two-bit road rash and a dented door on the other vehicle. In my friend’s case the ER tab was thousands in addition to considerable pain, lost work, recovery time and repeated physical therapy. Fortunately insurance did pay out, the suspect vehicle was a late model Mercedes.
Those are anecdotes but when there is no official notice we’ll never have data.
Much appreciation for the follow up and not letting this egregious outcome be forgotten. It’s just as shameful and depressing reading it as it was when the incident/assault/collision/attack (you used collision, but that doesn’t seem quite right and I don’t know the right word) happened.
Seeing the “related posts” of more shameful behavior and decisions was rough as well. I don’t want to always go back to the council doing more as I don’t know what they think is important to focus on, but it sure doesn’t seem like transportation and accountability is very high on the issue. There was quite the news flurry over foie gras, I would love to see a similar flurry over the way vulnerable users don’t seem as protected by the law or their physical bodies as auto users.
Best wishes for Timmerman’s continuing recovery.
giving officers discretion in egregious cases like this is tantamount to racism, fascism, sexism.
If I were Timmerman I would consider suing the City and police for $100 million.
Portland appears to learn nothing without some kind of financial distress
I was hit by a car about 7-years ago while ride in a straight line on an empty section of NE Flint. The driver that hit me was coming from the opposite direction and made a left turn right into me, despite my lights and bright yellow jacket. I was fortunate to avoid his bumper from hitting me and it only destroyed my front wheel. A couple of pedestrians saw the incident, called the police and an officer responded within a few minutes.
When the officer arrived I just kept asking for the drivers insurance information repeatedly. The officer asked the driver for his license and insurance. He had neither. I was OK, my bike was not, but I was rather shook up and not thinking totally clearly. I took photos of his car and license plate. The officer told the driver to get my information and the driver should pay to have my bike fixed. The officer said something about not citing him for no license or registration. I limped home and left the scene. Needles to say that driver never contacted me. My insurance company tried to chase him down for a year but never found him.
Lessons learned I now tell every cyclist I know.
It can be tough when you are not thinking clearly and may be injured. But unless you strongly advocate for yourself, the officer is likely to try not to take on additional paperwork, despite the fact it is their job.
Wow! I hear the guy driving with no license or insurance who hit me got arrested, but he was Black.
And my guy at least called me up later offering to drive me to work, said he had a bike in his yard I could use since he smashed mine, etc. I was both a bit shocked he was still out there driving, but also didn’t have the heart to tell him I wouldn’t be able to walk for months.
I got hi by an uninsured driver. I was mostly ok and my bike was mostly ok- it was low-moving right hook. I can relate to your description- I was amped up on adrenaline and not thinking clearly at all. The Police were not helpful and did not write a citation. A few bystanders saw it and they were very helpful, advising me to note down the license plate and exchange phone numbers. I got lucky- the guy who hit asked me to take my bike toa bike shop and send him the bill; I di and he paid. That said, your advice is very helpful
This is so distressing. What is the recourse for the injured party? I guess a civil lawsuit?
Unfortunately minimum insurance amounts are painfully low in Oregon and the driver was a woman in her early 20’s who is very unlikely to be carrying additional coverage or have any real assets to go after. I carry much higher coverage on my personal auto insurance in order to be sure that if I am victimized by a judgement proof driver that at least I will have some assistance.
Unfortunately the best financial risk mitigation for cyclists is to have an car and carry their own auto insurance policy with high limits on Personal Injury Protection and Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist claims. It’s tough to get affordable insurance with similar coverage without an automotive policy. If you get hit by someone with assets, who isn’t judgment proof, and are successful in litigation you’ll have to repay your own insurance from the judgement but at least you’ll have had someone else’s money to pay bills with for a few years.
“R”: Yep this is sadly ‘sound advise for any jurisdiction that enforcement default to “let the insurance companies figure it out,” approach. Across the USA, this is one of the critical ‘actions’ that has undermined / knee capped any real effort at the Vision Zero outcomes that the ‘policy ribbon cutting’ / new release had trumpeted by leadership on day 1.
Throw lawsuit after lawsuit against the city until they learn to enforce existing laws. Shout them out on social media, news, etc. every time an officer gives a driver a pass. Cyclists and bystanders should start recording these interactions when possible.
If you are worried about documentation and post accident procedures it might be a good idea to take an ambulance ride. Not only will this address any medical concerns that may be overlooked, it will trigger an establishment of official records for insurance and legal purposes. I have been hit multiple times over the course of over 40 years of riding, none of which were my fault. I was amazed how often the other parties stories changed after the accident only to be refuted by what was recorded at the scene. The other bit of advice I will give is that you carry uninsured motorist protection. It is relatively inexpensive and I was able to use it in California as a car was involved and the driver had no insurance. It made the entire recovery process, both medical and financial, much smoother than if I had not had the coverage.
Paul: yes more good advise…and once you reach the ER your will have more chance to be seen “quickly” vs being driven into the ER and the many hour wait to be processed. But sadly it also comes with a >$1,500 price tag. One that will need to be paid by someone as you wait 2 to 3 years for the insurance reimbursement claim to be processed
Have we found the weak link in Vision Zero??
“We care about safety but not enough to issue a citation.”
We need to hire more officers to not enforce traffic laws.
Every time I think about it, that “armed cyclist” guy seems more and more sane.
As much as it pains me to say this, understand this and live with it everyday, this has always been the case & most likely will always be the case, for better or worse.
I can recall at least more than a few times that the cops gave me a break when I was young & dumb & driving recklessly. Luckily, I never hurt anyone.
But also, when I was hit in a x-walk 7 yrs ago, the driver who clearly broke 3 traffic laws, got 0 citations.
Not only do they use their discretion in which laws to enforce but also in how they enforce the law. For example, many people were arrested during the Occupy Movement, BLM, etc for trespassing when they could’ve just been issued a citation.
Many folks who were arrested also suffered civil rights abuses, were denied their meds, a lawyer, etc.
“this has always been the case & most likely will always be the case”
I agree that it is hard to hope for improvement when overwhelmed with evidence that shows none. Yet I hope.
When I was vigiling the high-bike-motor-vehicle-crash intersection of N. Broadway/Flint/Wheeler from 1998-2013, I noticed that police stats showed only about 25% of the collisions that we, our employees, or our tenants at the Paramount were witnessing. I was advised, if I was on the scene, to wait for the parties involved to get squared away, for the ambulance to leave, etc., and then ask the responding officer whether they wrote a citation (I don’t remember a single time that they did), then request that they file a police report, and get their card with their name and badge number. I was told that if a citizen requests that they write a police report, they must do it. You can then call the precinct a few days later and ask for the report number and pay $10 for a copy of it. (Tell the officer you will do this.) My motive was to get on the official PPB record a more accurate count of the number of collisions in order to get engineering changes made, but it seems that also, lacking a citation, the party not at fault would at least have a legal record for insurance purposes.
I don’t know if this practice still works or not, as that was a long time ago. If anyone knows, please chime in. Requesting a police report is something we can do as passersby to help our fellow vulnerable road users who have been in a collision, as they may be unable to do this themselves at the time.
– After one right-hook collision from Broadway onto Flint that sent the cyclist away in an ambulance, the officer responded to my question about issuing the driver a citation with the reasoning, “No. It was her word against his. He said he had his blinker on, and she said he did not.” I told him that a blinker does not change who has the legal right-of-way, and that the driver violated the law by turning into the cyclist across the bike lane. He still refused. I later spoke to a sergeant at N. Precinct about educating their officers on this point, although I do not know if anything came of that.
PPB has extensive training for new officers. I propose that some of our cycling experts get added to the roster of trainers and share stories like this with new officers.
I don’t believe in punitive actions. I wish that drivers who were reckless around cyclists and pedestrians had to take a real-world course in which they had walk and bicycle in areas and experience for themselves what it’s like. Not to put them in any danger, but just to help them feel what it feels like when a car is racing by you, passing too closely, cutting you off on a right turn etc. This case is so frustrating.
She should seek out another parking ticket, and then fight it under the Equal Protection clause.
The minimum liability coverage definitely needs to be raised. Its so sad that the reckless autosapiens are not held responsible for their mayhem!
What might a policy amendment say about a cop’s discretion to cite or not? Should it eliminate a cop’s discretion? Should it require citation or arrest whenever the cop has probable cause to believe a violation of ordinance or statute has occurred? Should the amendment apply only to situations in which a driver endangered a cyclist? In what way does a cop’s decision not to issue a non-criminal citation affect the cyclist’s civil remedies?
I don’t think anyone here is wrong to want safer streets or real accountability when someone is seriously hurt. But it’s hard not to notice the whiplash in the rhetoric. For years, many of the same Portland voices argued that police discretion is necessary, enforcement is inequitable, and citations aren’t the answer. Now that discretion is being used in a way people dislike, suddenly we’re talking about lawsuits, mandatory citations, and relentless enforcement.
This outcome isn’t shocking—it’s exactly what a system built around broad discretion produces. If we want automatic consequences in serious-injury crashes, that’s a policy choice that needs to be made clearly and honestly, not retroactively demanded when emotions are high.
There’s room to push for better insurance minimums, better data, and better street design without pretending this is some rogue betrayal by one officer. Calmly fixing the rules will do more for safety than outrage ever will.
Cops will never care. The officer that had to follow me to the hospital after my accident told me to “wear brighter colors next time”. Mind you I was complying will all laws riding in a bike lane when an inattentive driver rear ended me at 40mph. I fucking hate how unserious we are about safety when it comes to cars.
I agree (almost all) cops will never care. sorry to burst the bubble of those who still live inside a children’s book or want to believe otherwise. I hate that they get away with saying things like ‘wear brighter colors next time” and that that happened to you. Cops actively undermine street safety most of the time, in my experience.
I wonder if one could gather statistics from PPB on investigation of bike/vehicle collisions where car/vehicle is at fault and driver not charged vs. driver charged number comparison. That could be enlightening information.
Yeah but I’m sure she had the best sob story and doe eyes.