PORTLAND, Ore. — A serious three-car crash left one woman dead Friday evening.
Several people witnessed the crash and rushed to help before rescue crews arrived. Among those helping was Steve Harmon, a retired Portland police officer and Marine Corps Veteran.
It was about 4 p.m. Friday when Harmon and his wife were driving along Northwest Yeon Avenue on their way to a family barbecue.
"An accident had just occurred, we pulled up saw it," he said. "It looked like a very, very really bad accident. There was a woman pinned in one of the cars."
Harmon was a Portland police officer for 25 years and before that he served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps. When he saw the accident, he immediately tried to help.
"It just comes back to you and then in the military as well," he said. "I reached in through the window and held her head up so she could breathe. Once the fire [department] got there, they of course extracted her took her off to the hospital."
Portland police said the woman later died at the hospital. Others involved in the crash were not injured.
"It just brought back memories when I was on the job and it’s very sad when someone loses their life over that," said Harmon.
According to city data, since 2010 three people have died in car crashes along Northwest Yeon Avenue and seven suffered serious injuries. Friday's death was the latest of those.
It was just one of 27 deadly crashes in Portland so far this year, according to Bike Portland’s traffic fatality tracker.
In 2015 the Portland Bureau of Transportation started a Vision Zero program aiming to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries in the city by 2025. But the numbers are far from zero. Last year alone 63 people died in traffic crashes, the highest number in about three decades.
"Sadness brought me back about a lot of memories I had being a police officer covering accidents and stuff where people died, and so sadness just one of those things," Harmon said.
Anyone with more information about the crash is asked to contact the Portland Police Bureau through crimetips@portlandoregon.gov, attention Traffic Investigations Unit, and reference case number 22-141042, or call (503) 823-2103.