GRESHAM, Ore. — The driver accused of running a red light and fatally hitting an 11-year-old boy in Gresham was on narcotic painkillers at the time of the crash, court documents said.
Garrett Bergquist, 26, faces first- and second-degree manslaughter, DUII and reckless driving charges.
The boy, Luis Medina, was walking to Dexter McCarty Middle School when he was hit Monday morning. He died at the scene.
Police said the boy was in a marked crosswalk and had the right of way when he was hit in the intersection of Southeast Hogan Road and 5th Avenue.
Witnesses told police that Bergquist ran a red light at a high speed. The impact threw the boy about 80 feet, court documents said. Dashcam video given to police showed the crash and Medina’s backpack being thrown into the air.
After hitting Medina, Bergquist drove “a significant distance,” court documents said. He then got out of his car while on the phone and started taking photos.
Oregon State Police sent a trooper to the crash scene to determine whether Bergquist was impaired by any drugs. The trooper determined Bergquist had taken anti-anxiety medication and narcotic pain relievers, and that he should not have been driving.
KGW spoke to Luis Medina’s cousin, Paloma Rendon, as she left flowers at a memorial where he was killed.
“Nobody wakes up in the morning thinking that they're going to bury their child that day,” Rendon said.
Rendon started a GoFundMe for the family that says Luis was “a quiet sweet boy, an angel to our family.”
“It's just going to help you know pay the funeral costs and everything, other than that, prayers you know, prayers for his mom and my uncle because it's very hard to deal with something like that,” Rendon said.