PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland police said that an officer's patrol vehicle was rear-ended on I-84 Saturday morning, causing a chain reaction multi-car pileup that shut down much of the interstate for almost two hours.
Around 6:15 a.m. on Saturday, an officer from the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) responded to a report of a single-car crash on I-84 eastbound near Northeast 33rd Avenue.
The officer arrived about 15 minutes later to find a silver sedan sitting in the right lane that appeared to have crashed into the side wall. The driver of the crashed car reportedly had walked away and was not found at the scene, PPB said.
A few minutes later, the officer ordered an expedited tow to remove the blocking vehicle from the interstate. Almost immediately after that, the officer radioed to report that his vehicle had been rear-ended, "and other vehicles were involved."
Paramedics and other officers responded to the scene. The first officer and a passenger in one of the other vehicles were taken to the hospital by ambulance, but their injuries were not considered serious.
According to PPB's investigation, the officer's Ford Interceptor Utility vehicle's overhead and rear-facing emergency lights were on at the time of the crash, and the vehicle was blocking the right lane.
The driver of a four-door sedan approached at freeway speeds, PPB said, when the driver put on the emergency brake. The oncoming driver lost control, spun into the side wall, then kept spinning and hit the patrol car while facing forward again.
Three more drivers crashed while trying to avoid the spinning sedan, PPB said. Thus far, police have issued no citations or made any arrests.
Tow trucks removed the disabled vehicles and I-84 was fully reopened at 8:30 a.m. PPB said that the officer was treated and released from the hospital.
