PENDLETON, Ore. — A Kansas man who was competing in the Pendleton Round-Up died in a crash on I-84 Thursday night in Eastern Oregon. Two other rodeo contestants who were also bull riders were seriously injured, according to Oregon State Police (OSP).
The crash happened around 8:15 p.m. in the eastbound lanes of I-84 near milepost 193, a few miles outside Pendleton. OSP said a Volkswagen Jetta carrying three Pendleton Round-Up contestants collided with a commercial truck hauling potatoes.
The driver, 20-year-old Jate Frost of Utah, was seriously injured and flown by Life Flight to a hospital in Richland, Wash. about 70 miles away.
The front-seat passenger, 24-year-old Richard Schleicher, died at the scene.
The other passenger, 21-year-old Jesse Hopper of Oklahoma, was seriously injured and transported to Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.
The driver of the commercial truck was not injured.
All three men in the Jetta were bull riders visiting Oregon for the Pendleton Round-Up, the state's biggest annual rodeo, which was scheduled for Sept. 11-18.
Multiple rodeo social media pages posted their condolences following the news of Schleicher's death, including Kansas Biggest Rodeo and Rough Tough Rodeo Ministries.
