4/21: Hello readers and friends. I'm still recovering from a surgery I had on 4/11, so I'm unable to attend events and do typical coverage. I'll post as I can and should improve day-by-day. Thanks for all your support 🙏. - Jonathan Maus, BikePortland Publisher and Editor

Driver blasts onto Springwater Corridor as bike riders narrowly escape speeding car

The driver was finally stopped thanks to this bollard at SE Spokane at Sellwood Park.

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.

(Map: BikePortland)

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.”

The SE 4th and Ivon entrance to the path. (Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Bent bollard at SE 4th and Ivon entrance. (Aaron Kuehn)

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.

Monday Roundup: Street wars, leg debate, TriMet’s comeback, and more

This week’s Roundup is sponsored by Trike Fest, coming to Portland June 15th. If you’re curious about riding in a more laid-back style, you might love trikes. They’re fast and fun!

Happy Monday. Hope you had a good weekend. I had to make an unplanned visit down to Medford to be with my dad (again) in the hospital, so I missed all the Parkways fun. Looked like a great day and I can’t wait for the next one.

Here are the most interesting stories our community has come across in the past seven days…

Street Wars: As New York City gears up to implement America’s first ever congestion pricing system, this new column will set the table and share the perspectives that have shaped streets in the Big Apple. Who will win the war? (NY Times)

Going fast: There are a lot of factors at play in the ever-increasing speeds of drivers on our roads, and it will take more than just lowering speed limits to get them to slow down. (Vox)

E-bike regulations: A public policy expert makes the case for federal e-bike regulations to lessen confusion for consumers and bike makers. (Streetsblog USA)

Death by cycling: A new law in the UK would make causing the death of another person while cycling a major offense with a prison sentence of up to 14 years. Some lawmakers say it’s needed to hold riders accountable while advocates say it’s a distraction from more serious issues. (BBC)

Nice legs: Move over helmet wars, there’s a new debate to be had: Who has stronger legs? Runners or cyclists? (Runners World)

Dedicated riders: Another study, this time by retailing giant REI, shows that a lot more people would give cycling a try if we offered them a network of safe lanes to do it in. (Momentum)

TriMet’s comeback: Ridership numbers are looking good for TriMet and the agency points to their post-Covid “Forward Together” route revamp as the reason. (Portland Tribune)

Big car, big ticket: Montreal charges mega-cars more to park in residential areas, a move that is being hailed as one tool to combat “car bloat” — the annoying and unsafe trend of massive cars using more than their fare share of city streets. (Bloomberg)

Confronting road deaths: I like the idea floated by a road safety advocate in Washington that DOTs should treat the fatal crash crisis as a megaproject that must be funded and approached with the same political urgency as a freeway expansion project. (Seattle Times)

Thanks to everyone who sent in links this week. The Monday Roundup is a community effort, so please feel free to send us any great stories you come across.

Podcast: In the Shed with Eva & Jonathan – Ep 19

Happy Friday and Welcome back to The Shed.

Retired bike shop co-owner and BikeLoud PDX Board Member Eva Frazier and I (BikePortland Publisher & Editor Jonathan Maus) had a wonderful chat and I can’t wait to share it with you.

Here’s what we talked about:

Thanks for listening, thanks to our paid subscribers, and thanks to Brock Dittus (of Sprocket Podcast fame) for our theme music. Listen via the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.

Portland’s ‘Clean Energy Fund’ has saved PBOT and the city’s budget

Thanks PCEF!!! (City of Portland)

The Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF) was created to save low-income and Portlanders of color from the ravages of climate change, but with approval of the $8.2 billion City of Portland budget this week, the fund has also managed to save all Portlanders from fiscal doom. And it might have saved part of Mayor Ted Wheeler’s legacy, allowing him to avoid severe cuts in his final budget as leader of our city.

Those cuts might have hit the Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) hardest. Back in September, PBOT Commissioner-in-charge Mingus Mapps and agency staff painted a very bleak picture of cuts needed to fill a $32 million budget gap that included laying off dozens of employees and even letting landslides go unswept. The budget approved by council on Wednesday includes over $49 million for PBOT thanks to PCEF. That’s in addition to previous allocations that bring the total funding from PCEF into PBOT coffers to $142 million.

Wheeler’s final budget was approved with over $600 million in PCEF revenue going directly toward city projects (see below). In a City Council work session on PCEF Tuesday, program staffers revealed PCEF accounts for 155 City of Portland FTEs.

Slide from PCEF work session at City Council Tuesday showing how city bureaus are using the fund.
PBOT Budget slide with PCEF allotments described

When it comes to transportation, an $80 million slice of PCEF revenue has already been set-aside for an electric bike rebate program and support for PBOT’s Transportation Wallet. In this budget, PBOT was able to save 31 positions with support of $8 million from PCEF. They also used PCEF funds to pay for $2 million in streetlight expenses which were previously funded through the General Fund. That freed up PBOT GF dollars to pay for other things like public plaza costs, green space management, graffiti cleanup, and small safety projects.

Simply put, PCEF allowed PBOT to pay important bills and avoid burning a lot of political capital. There were still reductions made to PBOT’s budget — about $6.7 million and 4 FTE — but those are spread across several different service areas and considered relatively manageable.

“The City of Portland could not have balanced its budget without your direct guidance and your leadership,” an effusive Wheeler beamed into a meeting of the PCEF Advisory Committee last night. “What could have just been a bloodbath of a budget for us turned out to make some really good new key investments.”

“I really wish I could do more — throw you a party, bake you a cake or something else,” Wheeler continued. “I really do appreciate you personally. Thank you all.”

Even with an eventful week full of smiles, mayoral praise, and photo-ops, PCEF leaders and committee members’ work isn’t over. There’s still unease about PCEF being used as a slush fund for city bureaus and its largest critic, Commissioner Rene Gonzalez, isn’t likely drop his attempts to mold the program into a shape he prefers. Tensions around Gonzalez’s efforts to undermine PCEF by referring it back to voters (a move Wheeler referred to last night when he told the committee, “I think it would be a tragedy to have this go back for a referral because people are just angry and edgy”) have cooled over the past week, thanks in large part to Tuesday’s work session where none of his probing questions could crack PCEF’s armor.

But that doesn’t mean PCEF committee members won’t have other battles to fight.

Along with keeping city bureau budget makers at bay, a new wrinkle in the idea to borrow off of interest earned by the PCEF fund to pay for non-climate city expenditures that was floated a few months ago by Commissioner Carmen Rubio, is back on the table. The approved budget was balanced by using $7 million in earned interest from PCEF — a maneuver that requires an amendment to city code that will need to be discussed before the budget is final in June.

Despite Chamber’s claims, SW 4th Avenue project will go on

Left: Andrew Hoan (Photo: Portland Metro Chamber) Right: Mingus Mapps (Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

City Commissioner Mingus Mapps is once again making headlines alongside business interests who don’t like a major bike project and seek to leverage their influence with his office. And once again the public is left wondering who’s telling the truth.

Last week BikePortland broke the news about a letter to Mapps from president of Portland Metro Chamber (formerly Portland Business Alliance) Andrew Hoan. Hoan said the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s SW 4th Avenue Improvements project should be cancelled because he believes it is, “unnecessary, wasteful, and disruptive.”

The $23 million project’s main focus is a physically-protected bikeway on 4th Avenue between I-405 and W Burnside. It has been years in the making and is considered a key part of PBOT’s Central City in Motion plan. It seemed odd to me from the get-go that someone as experienced as Hoan would demand such a drastic move from PBOT at such a late hour (the project had already begun). The Chamber has opposed the project in the past, but has made no coordinated, public effort to stop it until now.

Another odd thing was how quickly Mapps’ office issued a response to the Chamber. Just six hours after our story, Mapps sent a letter back to Hoan that flatly rejected his requests, defended PBOT’s record, and extolled the virtues of the project.

But one week later, according to a story by Willamette Week published Wednesday May 15th, Hoan emailed City Council to say Mapps was hiding something. From that story:

“… the Chamber wrote in an email to all of City Council that Mapps had, in fact, told them verbally that he would be scaling back the 4th Avenue bike lane project. According to the Chamber, Mapps told them that before he sent a May 7 letter that made no mention of a scaled-back project.

‘Our main purpose of writing today is to thank Commissioner Mapps for his commitment to reducing the scope of this project,’ Metro Chamber president and CEO Andrew Hoan wrote in a Tuesday email. ‘This wasn’t communicated in this letter, but we greatly appreciate that he personally communicated to the Chamber that only the broadly supported parts of the 4th avenue project will move forward under his watch.'”

This email from Hoan suggests that Mapps is talking out of both sides of his mouth, telling the Chamber he’d cut certain parts of the project while telling the public it would move forward as planned.

This episode echoes the problems Mapps created for himself in the Broadway Bike Lane Scandal last fall where he was caught between his own public statements and meetings and conversations he (and/or his office) had with downtown business owners.

Asked about Hoan’s claims that Mapps promised something to the Chamber, the commissioner’s policy advisor Jackson Pahl told BikePortland via email yesterday, “Commissioner Mapps stands by the letter that he wrote.”

And at the PBOT Bureau Budget Advisory Committee (BBAC) held at the Portland Building last night, committee member David Stein asked PBOT Government Affairs Manager (and BBAC staff liaison) Matt Grumm about the project.

“I’d like to just understand what if anything is happening,” Stein asked.

“We’re doing the project as you know it and as the contractor knows it and everything else, so that’s what we’re doing,” Grumm replied.

“OK, so no changes?”

“No,” Grumm added.

So, we can rest assured that the project is going forward in its entirety, without any “scaling back” as Hoan suggested; but we can’t be sure that both of these men are telling the full truth.

Note: BikePortland connected with a Portland Metro Chamber spokesperson yesterday but they have so far been unable to answer my questions.

Jobs of the Week: ODOT, Castelli, River City, Velotech

Need a job? Want a better job? Just looking for a change? You are in the right place. Don’t miss these recent job announcements. (Remember, you can always stay abreast of jobs as soon as they get listed by signing up for our Job Listings email.)

For a complete list of available jobs, click here.

Be the first to know about new job opportunities by signing up for our daily Job Listings email or by following @BikePortland on Twitter.

These are paid listings. And they work! We’ve helped hundreds of people find great jobs and great staff members. If you’d like to post a job on the Portland region’s most popular bike and transportation news platform, you can purchase a listing online for just $100. Learn more at our Job Listings page.

Open streets season begins Sunday in east Portland!

Skate, scoot, or cycle — the streets are ours! (Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

This Sunday, the City of Portland will launch its annual open streets season. East Portland Sunday Parkways is a 3.3-mile out-and-back route between Gateway Park on NE Halsey to Lincoln Park on SE Mill.

If you’ve never attended one of these events, you can rest assured conditions are safe enough for all riders and ages. You can expect mostly carfree streets and whenever the route crosses a major street there is a human crossing guard that makes sure everyone gets across safely. But safe riding is just one thing to get excited about!

What really makes Parkways shine is what happens along the route. The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) stuffs the three parks along the route full with vendor booths, food carts, music and performance stages, and free activities of all types. It’s also fun to see garage sales, lemonade stands, and impromptu front-yard parties that spring up at houses along the route.

If you don’t have a bike, you can grab a Biketown and get unlimited, free 60-minute rides on the day of the event (as long as you start and end your ride on the route). If you want to ride free longer than 60 minutes, just lock the bike and then restart another trip.

Here are a few other special happenings you can expect on Sunday (via PBOT):

Family-Friendly Activities: Families can explore the joy of circus performance through physical and artistic expression with Circus Cascadia, enjoy games with Portland in the Streets, and much more.

Kaiser Permanente’s Sticker Hunt: During the event, Sunday Parkways Presenting Sponsor Kaiser Permanente will host the popular Sticker Hunt. Participants will win a prize by visiting the Kaiser Permanente booths at each park. Each booth will inspire participants to get their body moving while also having a load of fun! 

Bike Play performances at Lincoln Park at 1:40 and 2:00 pm.

Bike Programming: Participants can belt out their favorite tunes while riding the route with bike karaoke hosted by NakedHeartsPDX. Boom Bike PDX will serenade our open streets with performances by Larry Peace-Love Yes and Dan Kaufman on their pedal-powered mobile stage. Bike Play, a beloved Pedalpalooza favorite, invites participants to immerse themselves in their creative and entertaining performances! These diverse bike activities showcase the vibrant spirit of Portland’s cycling culture.

Mobility Resources: With bike fleets and free 60-minute rides offered from BIKETOWN and Adaptive BIKETOWN, individuals can access bicycles suited to their preferences and needs. The Rose City Roller’s Skatemobile will provide free skate rentals from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., inviting roller enthusiasts to join in the festivities. TriMet’s Fan Van will be on-site for those interested in exploring transit resources. Lime will on-site for participants to learn more about their electric scooters.

Food options:

Another cool way to enhance your experience is to join a group ride at or to the event. One person is leading a BIPOC and Friends ride that will cruise the entire route from Gateway Park south. There’s even a Bike Bus to Parkways ride being led by Kidical Mass PDX that will meet at Rose City Park playground at 11:40 and head over to the parkways route.

Parkways is a chance for us to live our vision. While I wish it lasted longer, happened more often, and took place on major streets — those quibbles melt away whenever I show up and see all the beautiful happy people enjoying our city from the seat of their bikes.

New ODOT map shows fatal traffic crashes in real time

Red dots are 2023 deaths. 2024 deaths are shown in blue.

For all the critiques lobbed at the Oregon Department of Transportation on this website, the fact is they actually do a lot of very good and important work. While the bad stuff (which is mostly how they throw billions at freeway expansions and don’t do enough to reduce driving capacity and improve safety on urban arterials) tends to overshadow where they’re actually moving forward, that doesn’t mean change and progress isn’t happening at the agency.

During an update on ODOT’s safety work shared at the May 9th Oregon Transportation Commission meeting, the agency’s Policy, Data and Analysis Division Administrator Amanda Pietz shared several important items. Chief among them is a map that just launched a few months ago that gives us a more up-to-date and interactive view of where people are dying on Oregon roads.

Beyond engineering, enforcement, education, data is a huge part any good road safety program. Similar to the City of Portland and Metro, ODOT wants zero deaths to occur on the entire system. They’ve stated a goal of “no deaths or life-changing injuries on Oregon’s transportation system by 2035.” And that’ll be an extremely tall order given current trends.

Slide from May 9th OTC meeting.

Fatality rates in Oregon are the highest they’ve been in three decades and we’ve settled into a grim average of about 600 deaths per year — about half of which occurred on state-owned roads. The number of people killed while walking is a “pressing issue” according to one slide shared at last week’s meeting. 126 pedestrians were killed in 2022 compared to the previous five year average of 80.

One shocking graph Pietz shared was how all types of crashes increased in 2022 versus the five year average from 2017 to 2021. Intersection crashes were up 71%. Crashes that happened around a school bus or in a school zone were up 109%! This chart is the best illustration of the post-pandemic driving freak-out I’ve ever seen.

Pietz is big on data and believes it’s key to reaching zero deaths. On that note, she shared ODOT’s Crash Analysis & Reporting Unit Initial Fatal Crash Information Viewer (CARUIFCIV, lol). It’s a GIS-based map that contains information on all fatal crashes in the state. So far the map includes details about all fatals from 2023 and 2024.

The timeliness of this information is a new thing for ODOT.

In the past, data would take months — even years — to trickle out of city police and DMV reports, then local transportation departments and eventually to State databases. But with “crash data timeliness” one of the areas ODOT was tasked to address in their Strategic Plan, Pietz and her team have rolled out this map as one way to tackle that problem.

“When we get a report about a death we enter it that night,” Pietz told Transportation Commission members at their May 9th meeting. “So this is essentially live information where you can see traffic fatalities across the state that’s interactive. So instead of waiting a year, or even longer in some cases, to have that information, we have it live so we can start to be more responsive to some of those things.”

If you’re an advocate, city staffer, or in the media, you’ll definitely want to bookmark this page. And hopefully by 2035, you can delete it.

— For more see ODOT’s Crash Data and Statistics page.

Weekend Event Guide: Big sales, Sunday Parkways, and more

Grab your squad and head east for open streets! (Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

Ever ridden a fat bike on the beach? This weekend would be a great time to try it. The Cannon Beach Fat Bike Festival happens all weekend long. And the organizers are wonderful people who do tons of bike advocacy and also support BikePortland with an ad campaign for their event. Check it out!

If that’s not your thing, here are some other really cool things to do on a bike this weekend…

Friday, May 17th

Vvolt/Showers Pass Warehouse Sale – 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at their shared HQ (SE)
Buy e-bikes at 25-50% off and save 40-60% on rain gear and related apparel. Sale also runs Saturday from 9:00 am to 12 noon. More info here.

Breadwinner Cycles Moving Sale – 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm at Breadwinner Cycles (N)
Breadwinner is downsizing and they have tons of cool stuff to sell off. Come grab smokin’ deals on everything from high-quality framebuilding tools to frames and even new and used complete bikes! Sale also runs Saturday, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. More info here.

Saturday, May 18th

Reach the Beach – Sauvie Island
The big annual ride that benefits the American Lung Association shoves off from bucolic Sauvie Island en route to Astoria. More info here.

Coffee Outside & Pop-Up Market – 9:00 am to 2:00 pm at Lords Luggage (SE)
Get your DIY caffeine fix and then check out the wares of local artisans and makers. More info here.

Vvolt and Showers Pass Warehouse Sale is on Friday 5/17 and Sat 5/18.

PSU Farmers Market Ride – 10:00 am at SE Clinton & 41st (SE)
Join a merry and social crew for this weekly jaunt from inner southeast, across the Tilikum Bridge, and into downtown to purchase and peruse wonderful food and other items at the market. More info here.

Milwaukie Greenway Ride – 10:00 at Water Tower Park (Milwaukie)
Explore new greenways just south of Portland and bring a few bucks for a cookie stop and food carts at the end spot. More info here.

Ride to Outdoor Bike Storytime – 10:00 am at UO Concordia (NE)
A bike-themed storytime hosted by Multnomah County Library out on the grass is a perfect excuse for a ride with the kiddos! More info here.

Beaverton Policy Ride – 10:30 am at Beaverton Central MAX Station (West Side)
Hosted by Ride Westside and led by two Beaverton city council members, this is a must-do event if you are interested in bike policy and projects. More info here.

Bike Swap Meet – 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm at Rose City Food Park (NE)
Clean out your parts bin and bike shed, grab a table for $10 and hang out with fellow bike nerds. $1 off beers. More info here.

Sunday, May 19th

East Portland Sunday Parkways – 11:00 am to 4:00 pm (E)
This it it! The big kickoff of Portland’s favorite open streets event. So many cool things to see and do along the out-and-back route. You can do it any way you want: take a chill cruise and swing into parks for treats and people-watching, or grab your squad for a party on two wheels. More info here.

Cycle Homies Cycle Sundays – 11:30 am at Salmon Street Springs (SW)
A new ride series led by a collective of cyclists and DJs that will happen every other Sunday. Expect 15-20 mile routes with “moderate to fast-pace.” More info here.

Heidi Across America Author Talk – 3:00 to 4:00 pm at Powell’s Books (W Burnside)
“Hailing from big sky country of eastern Montana, Joe Wilkins joins Wyoming-imprinted Heidi Beierle in conversation about Heidi Across America – One Woman’s Journey on a Bicycle through the Heartland. More info here.

— Did I miss your event? Please let me know by filling out our contact form, or just email me at maus.jonathan@gmail.com.

Man convicted of killing Mitch York with his truck, boasts about high-speed car chase

Screenshot of Schrantz’s Facebook post.

One major reason our roads are so dangerous is because our system does not keep dangerous people from using them.

The man who was convicted for killing Mitch York while he straddled his bicycle on the St. Johns Bridge in October 2016 was arrested again in January. He then boasted about his driving skills on his Facebook page about being in a high-speed car chase with the Portland Police Bureau.

“So yeah any way, got into a high-speed chase 140mph [sic] with Multnomah county’s finest down division the other morning,” reads a post from Joel Schrantz posted January 23rd, 2024. “They spiked stripped me twice, that’s cheating. It used to be about if they could catch you or not, who was the better driver, not anymore.”

It seems nothing will prevent Schrantz from wantonly dangerous driving: Not the threat of legal consequences; not admonishments from judges; not his Facebook friends (none of whom expressed concern for his post, and six of whom replied with a “Haha” emoji); not even killing an innocent person.

Schrantz was sentenced to 42 months in prison on May 17th, 2017. In the courtroom that day prosecutors explained how he’d been driving without a valid license for 25 years and had not paid the 40 traffic citations that had piled up on his record. Just two years prior, Schrantz was convicted of hit-and-run. During that case a judge warned Schrantz, “He needed to stop driving or he was going to kill someone.”

He didn’t stop driving. Then he killed Mitch York.

Then on January 21st of this year, Schrantz, now 49, was caught yet again driving recklessly around innocent people. The Portland Police Bureau arrested him following the aforementioned car chase and he was slapped with five charges: attempt to elude by vehicle, reckless driving, attempt to elude on foot, escape in the third degree and intent to deliver methamphetamine.

According to court records, Schrantz appeared in front of a judge on April 18th. But due to lack of an attorney his case was dismissed (along with 26 others). The Multnomah County District Attorney’s office has called this lack of public defenders “an urgent threat to public safety.”

Schrantz’s case was dismissed “without prejudice” meaning the judge didn’t rule on the merits of the charges. Technically, this means he could face a court date in the future if/when an attorney can be provided for him. But with hundreds (thousands?) of cases impacted by the lack of public defenders, it’s hard to say when — or if — that would ever happen.

Multnomah County DA’s Office Communications Director Liz Merah told BikePortland they plan to bring this case back to court, “In the near future.” “And we certainly hope that the court will appoint counsel if/when we get to arraignment.”

In the meantime, Schrantz is still out there.

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Checking in after my knee operation

From the Archives

More biking = better driving. So why isn’t this said more often?