Aleah Greene receiving treatment at the scene last night.
(Photo: Brad Biddle)

Portlander Aleah Greene is recovering from her injuries after she was involved in a collision yesterday evening.

At around 6:00 last night Greene was riding her bike at Northeast 13th and Wygant whe she was struck by a man driving a Dodge Caravan. Here’s how Greene remembers it:

“It all happened pretty quick. I was riding down 13th (helmet and lights on), when I got to the intersection of Wygant and started passing through I noticed the white van heading towards me was not stopping and was turning left into/in front of me. I don’t remember seeing a signal. We both had the right of way, no stop signs were run. He just didn’t see me is what he said.
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Screengrab from Hannah Davison’s GoFundMe page.

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Screenshot of tweet by @BluTarp.

Portland Police are investigating a hit-and-run case after a woman was struck while bicycling on North Skidmore last night.
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Paths are for slow riding.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Reader Spencer B (not that Spencer B) shared a disturbing story with us earlier this month. A man riding a bike in Waterfront Park just south of the Steel Bridge, rode his bicycle into another person and just kept on going.

Here’s what happened, via an email from Spencer:

This morning while riding to work I witnessed an accident where the cyclist hit and knocked over a pedestrian and just kept going. I stopped to check on her. She was a 70ish woman who was probably from out of town and doesn’t know the dangers of the Esplanade in the morning.
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Mike Cooley, shown here ready to head out on his
daily bike commute before his 2013 collision.
(Photos courtesy Lisa Cooley)

A man whose legs were paralyzed in an unsolved 2013 hit-and-run on Interstate Avenue has sued the city, state and regional transit agency for $21 million.

Mike Cooley’s wife Lori, who is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, told us in a May interview that she’s motivated in part by the lack of changes to Interstate Avenue’s bike lanes despite years of serious collisions on the street.

“Something has to be done to make that road safer or just shut it down for bikes,” Lori Cooley said. “There’s just too many injuries there.”

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R.I.P. little guy.

UPDATE: The man who ran over the duck has left a comment explaining his side of the story.

On the many paved, off-street trails that wind through the subdivisions of Washington County, there are some path users who are truly vulnerable. On Saturday we learned about a disturbing incident that involved one such user, a mallard duck, that tried to cross the path adjacent to Bethany Lake (near NW 185th and West Union).

According to a tipster named Steve C., just before noon a man wearing a red and white lycra jersey came rolling down the path near the lake, struck the duck and left it dead, then failed to stop.

Steve said several people pleaded with the man to stop and report the incident to the Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District; but to no avail.
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Lisa Vesely after her arrest back in July.

A woman who drove her car recklessly while drunk, then rear-ended two other road users, only to drive away and leave them lying in the street with serious injuries was sentenced to just 30 days in jail on Tuesday.

The incident happened back in July when 32-year old Lisa Vesely was arrested for Assault, DUII, and Reckless Endangerment. Vesely was driving her car east on SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway when she swerved into Cameron Duff and Jasmine Zamora. The pair were headed home from training at the Alpenrose Velodrome. Zamora, 30, sustained serious back and neck injuries while Duff, 25, escaped with only cuts and bruises.

Vesely claimed she didn’t even know she hit anyone, yet a police statement at the time said she drove back to the scene of the crime, only to drive away again before being arrested at her home. It’s worth noting that Vesely had a blood alcohol level of .17, which is twice the legal limit.[Read more…]

Victim advocate Kristi Finney.

A Portland advocate for hit-and-run victims is calling for a statewide alert system that would send a text message to thousands of professional drivers and members of the public to help nab suspects.

Kristy Finney, whose son Dustin was killed in 2011 by a man driving drunk on Southeast Division Street, is modeling her proposal on a similar system already in use in Colorado for “cases involving serious injury or death — and when a reliable description of the fleeing vehicle is available.”

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(Screen capture from KOIN.com.)

Miriam Clinton of Lake Oswego is likely to get more than two years in prison after a guilty plea Friday to driving while intoxicated, hitting a man (who was walking his bike) with her car and leaving him for dead on the side of Southwest Barbur Boulevard Aug. 16.

Clinton accepted one count each of third-degree assault, driving under the influence of intoxicants and failure to perform the duties of a driver, according to KOIN-TV’s report this morning from Multnomah County Court. Upon her release, her driver’s license will be suspended for five years, the Oregonian reported.

KOIN reported that Clinton “cried throughout Friday’s proceedings, and declined to comment afterwards.”

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Screenshot of FacesofFatalities.com.

A bereaved mother whose 28-year-old son was killed by a drunk driver two years ago while biking on SE Division, has launched a website. Faces of Fatalities: Resources for Hit and Run Victims and Their Families is the work of Kristi Finney-Dunn. Since her son Dustin died in August 2011, Finney-Dunn has dedicated herself to public service and citizen activism and this website appears to be just her latest effort to spur the public dialogue around the scourge of dangerous driving and hit-and-run collisions.[Read more…]