TIGARD, Ore. — An 81-year-old woman died and two other people were seriously injured in a crash Thursday evening in Tigard, police reported.
The head-on collision happened at around 7:30 p.m. on Highway 99 West near Pfaffle Street, close to the Costco in Tigard.
A witness told police that the driver of a truck swerved into oncoming traffic, colliding with four cars and a motorcycle. Three people were taken to a nearby hospital, including the two with serious injuries. One person was pronounced dead later at the hospital.
Police identified that person as 81-year-old Luigina Elmer from King City.
Lisa Edson, Elmer's daughter, told KGW that Elmer's son Robert was the one driving her that evening. He remains in the trauma unit at Oregon Health & Science University.
"Believe it or not, they went to go clean off my dad's and her cemetery plots because my dad died 25 years ago. And they went to a movie and dinner," Edson said. "And they were driving home and she got ... they got hit."
Elmer was part of the Elmer's Restaurant family, a popular family-owned business in Portland. Edson said that Luigina Elmer survived four different strokes and three kinds of cancer in her lifetime. She described Elmer as a loving mother, and said she takes solace knowing that her mother saw those she loved one last time before the crash.
Edson said she and her kids had dinner with Elmer the night before she died. She said that final meal was a gift.
The truck's 43-year-old driver, identified as Grant Thomas of Hillsboro, was arrested at the scene and booked into the Washington County jail. Thomas faces multiple charges, including manslaughter, DUII, assault, reckless driving and criminal mischief.