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.
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.