How not to drive your Prius on the sidewalk.

bobr1 · Jul 10, 2006

From the Oregonian newspaper:
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/i...3300.xml&coll=7

Police wonder why driver was on sidewalk
Pedestrians - Work will continue today to unravel the incident, which seriously hurt two people

Monday, July 10, 2006

Portland police will resume their investigation today into a baffling weekend traffic incident that left two pedestrians hospitalized.

Heather Quinter, 30, drove her 2005 Toyota Prius onto a sidewalk along Northeast 28th Avenue about 2:30 a.m. Saturday and traveled several blocks before reaching the pavement on Davis Street, where the car struck a New York couple, according to Officer Catherine Kent, a police spokeswoman.

Quinter, a Portland lawyer, cooperated with investigators, submitting blood and urine samples for toxicology tests, Kent said. Preliminary results indicated she wasn't under the influence of intoxicants at the time of the accident, she said.

"She just claims she doesn't know what happened," the spokeswoman said.

Quinter could not be reached Sunday for comment. Her passenger's name wasn't released.

Elizabeth M. Kenny, 26, and boyfriend Aaron R. Fishbone, 25, of Stonybrook, N.Y., were both seriously injured and remained hospitalized Sunday, police said.

Kent said police remain baffled about how Quinter could have driven for several blocks on the sidewalk, scraping the Toyota's side mirrors along the way, then run into Kenny and Fishbone and continued for another block before she struck a parked car.

Quinter and her boyfriend, whom she had picked up from a bar shortly before the accident, were slightly injured in the accident, Kent said.

"Did she fall asleep? Did she nod off? Did she black out?" Kent said, pointing out some of the scenarios police will investigate. "Does she have some medical condition?"

Investigators took Sunday off and will resume their investigation today, according to Kent. [/b]
Click to expand...

Also see:
http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=87484 (Visit site to view video clip.)

Car Goes Down Sidewalk, Injures Two

Charges have yet to be filed against a Portland attorney who police say struck two pedestrians with her car this weekend.

Investigators are reviewing evidence from the scene that stretches across three blocks near northeast 28th and east Burnside Street.

Police say Heather Quinter's Toyota Prius hopped the curb and traveled down the sidewalk until hitting a cement wall, careening back into the road.

Investigators believe Quinter's car was going up to 40 miles an hour.

Police say Aaron Fishbone and his friend Elizabeth Kenny, who were in town visiting friends, were hit by the car while crossing the street.

Fishbone reportedly has head and spinal injuries and a broken wrist. Kenny remains in a coma in the intensive care unit at Legacy Emanuel hospital, with severe head wounds.

Police say the driver did not appear to be under the influence of any intoxicants.
[/b]
Click to expand...

Jeannie · Jul 10, 2006

I've heard of this sort of thing happening with people who take Ambien - 'sleep driving' with no memory of the incident, and also binge-eating in the middle of the night with no memory of it.

TonyPSchaefer · Jul 10, 2006

That's just bizarre.

I feel really bad for the New Yorkers. Just walking along, minding their own business, in town to visit relatives. Now one's in a coma.

hobbit · Jul 10, 2006

Maybe her steering linkage broke, and she spent the next two blocks
in complete disbelief and thinking "damn, should have gone in for that
SSC..."
.
_H*

taoofbean · Jul 10, 2006

My heart goes out to the New Yorkers. What a tragedy for them and I hope they have a speedy recovery.

The lawyer driving several blocks on the sidewalk immediately makes any justification or "I don't know" suspect and I hope she gets due justice.

daniel · Jul 10, 2006

She is a lawyer. What more explanation is needed?

Very sad about the victims, though.

Maytrix · Jul 10, 2006

I think it's pretty obvious as to what happened.

She was abudcted by Aliens! They took her and had her for probably a few weeks. Their time moves much slower than ours, so by the time the 2 weeks passed, she had traveled the few blocks on the sidewalk and had no recollection of the lost time.

It happens all the time, I think the usually just stick to a week, which isn't enough time to be noticeable.

Salsawonder · Jul 10, 2006

hey guys! What about the BF that she had just picked up at the bar?? Was he out of it? Were they fighting? Was she trying to scare the s**t out of him and lost her mind in the process??

bobr1 · Jul 11, 2006

An update from today's Oregonian:
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/i...9310.xml&coll=7

A deeply disturbing green line
Aftermath - A motorist who seriously injured two while driving on the sidewalk leaves neighbors baffled and chilled

Tuesday, July 11, 2006
MAXINE BERNSTEIN
The Oregonian

A motorist who drove her 2005 Toyota Prius onto a sidewalk for a block along Northeast 28th Avenue early Saturday before striking a New York couple told investigators she may have "blacked out" or "fainted," police said Monday.

Meanwhile, area residents and business owners retraced the motorist's path, a route that remains outlined by investigators' bright green paint and continues to baffle onlookers.

The car heading south along 28th Avenue about 2:30 a.m. Saturday jumped the curb at Northeast Everett Street, and continued southbound. It knocked over and broke potted plants, sheared off the bark of a holly tree and slammed into the concrete base of a home's front steps before reaching the Davis Street intersection, where it struck two pedestrians.

The Toyota didn't stop, but continued south for nearly two more blocks, crashed into a parked car and rammed into a bicycle rack on the westside sidewalk, coming to a halt just before East Burnside Street.

"You think the car somehow lost control. But on the other hand, you think this is a pretty narrow sidewalk, and somehow the car threaded through here," said Patrick Marshall, who lives and works on the avenue and was awakened by the pre-dawn mayhem. "To get through here, you'd need to be doing some pretty artful driving. There are a couple of telephone poles and parked cars she could've hit and didn't."

Portland police said Monday that they've interviewed the driver, 30-year-old Heather L. Quinter, an associate at the local Preston, Gates & Ellis law firm, where she specializes in business law and corporate mergers and acquisitions. Those interviews did not indicate she was under the influence of intoxicants at the time of the accident, said Officer Cathe Kent, a Portland police spokeswoman.

"One of the officers indicated she may have blacked out or fainted," Traffic Lt. Mark Kruger said. "She made a couple of claims along those lines."

Police are awaiting the results of lab tests on Quinter's blood and urine samples before presenting the case to the Multnomah County district attorney's office for review. Prosecutors will consider whether a medical condition may have caused Quinter to black out, and whether or not she displayed negligence driving with it.

Quinter had gone to a bar near Southeast 31st Avenue and Powell Boulevard to pick up her boyfriend, Daniel Robert Webert, and a friend of his after getting a call from them that they were intoxicated, had been in a brawl and needed a ride. Webert is also a local attorney.

Quinter and her boyfriend dropped off the other man near Northeast 42nd Avenue and Halsey Street, then headed toward their Southeast Portland home when she suddenly drove off of Northeast 28th Avenue, near Everett Street.

Witnesses said she drove on the sidewalk before running into pedestrians Elizabeth M. Kenny, 26, and her boyfriend, Aaron R. Fishbone, 25, at Davis Street as they walked across 28th Avenue.

Kenny remained hospitalized at Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center with life-threatening head injuries Monday, police said. She arrived at the hospital unconscious, police said. Fishbone remains hospitalized in serious condition with head and spinal injuries.

Monique Alcala, who lives on Northeast 28th Avenue near Everett Street, said she was awakened early Saturday.

"I heard a huge 'boom,' " Alcala said. "It must've been when it hit the tree out front. It woke me up from a dead sleep."

Alcala found the car's rear-view mirror on the sidewalk, and saw a crowd of people gathered around the female victim, who lay face down in the street. Alcala heard witnesses yelling that the car hadn't stopped. "People were screaming, 'Oh my god, it's still going,' " she recalled.

Marshall said the Toyota's multiple strikes to property and people were disturbing. "Just the sound of the impacts were really chilling," he said.

Nathan Winters, the kitchen manager at Beulahland on Northeast 28th Avenue, said the bar had closed around the time of the accident and many people were walking outside when the crash occurred. A friend of his owned the parked car that was struck, he said.

Winters and others said they couldn't understand how the motorist kept driving along the sidewalk for at least a block. Marshall wondered what Quinter's passenger was doing, or if he was trying to grab the wheel.

Alcala added, "I'm very concerned for the well-being of the people hit. I pray and wish them all the best. My concerns also go to the driver. I hope that everyone can come through this horrible ordeal."
[/b]
Click to expand...

tumbleweed · Jul 11, 2006

I have long suspected that New York was safer and saner than Portland. I wish we could give it to some other state.

Salsawonder · Jul 11, 2006

So BF is drunk and passed out too? Sounds like she may claim a seizure. Sounds like she may need a lawyer soon herself.

bobr1 · Jul 11, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tumbleweed @ Jul 11 2006, 01:03 PM) [snapback]284562[/snapback]</div>

I have long suspected that New York was safer and saner than Portland. I wish we could give it to some other state.
[/b]
Click to expand...

I have long suspected that Eastern Oregon was not as intolerant as some people have suggested, but perhaps I was wrong?

- Bob R.

tumbleweed · Jul 11, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bobr1 @ Jul 11 2006, 02:06 PM) [snapback]284604[/snapback]</div>

I have long suspected that Eastern Oregon was not as intolerant as some people have suggested, but perhaps I was wrong?

- Bob R.
[/b]
Click to expand...

It definitely isn't Portland out here. So far they haven't called me names (at least not that I could hear) or tried to run me off the road because I drive a Prius. I live in Hermiston about 200 miles East of Portland and when I got my Prius last September there was only one other one in town. Now there are at least 4 or 5 others, can't get them to wave at me though.

longjohn931 · Jul 11, 2006

Did any witness actually see her driving? Sounds like she is covering for a drunken boy friend who was driving

rufaro · Jul 12, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(longjohn931 @ Jul 11 2006, 04:16 PM) [snapback]284670[/snapback]</div>

Did any witness actually see her driving? Sounds like she is covering for a drunken boy friend who was driving
[/b]
Click to expand...

BINGO!

Skwyre7 · Jul 12, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rufaro @ Jul 12 2006, 04:44 AM) [snapback]284858[/snapback]</div>

BINGO!
[/b]
Click to expand...

They were drunk and playing B-I-N-G-O?! No wonder they drove on the sidewalk.

daronspicher · Jul 12, 2006

It's clear that she was forced off the road by a Hummer or American made SUV!!!

Someone should sue GM!!

bobr1 · Jul 12, 2006

I was considering going down there (it's not far from where I live) and taking photographs of the scene, but this is western Oregon, of course, and it is raining today.

Of course, I'm a true Oregonian, so I may just go out and snap some pixels anyway... maybe...

- Bob R.

naterprius · Jul 12, 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(longjohn931 @ Jul 11 2006, 05:16 PM) [snapback]284670[/snapback]</div>

Did any witness actually see her driving? Sounds like she is covering for a drunken boy friend who was driving
[/b]
Click to expand...

No, it was Dietrich who was driving:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fe...-home-headlines

I hate it when Dietrich drives my car, crashes it, and runs off into the hills.

Nate

taoofbean · Jul 12, 2006

Man that storyline sure as hell is fishy. She/he drove 3 blocks passed out or unconscious at up to 40 mph? Bullshit.

If he was passed out in the side seat he would have woken up to the commotion of just nearly killing two people I would think.

I don't know, fishy fishy fishy. Again, I hope the innocent victims recover.

How not to drive your Prius on the sidewalk.

bobr1 New Member

Jeannie Proud Prius Granny

TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
Staff Member

hobbit Senior Member

taoofbean New Member

daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

Maytrix Member

Salsawonder New Member

bobr1 New Member

tumbleweed Senior Member

Salsawonder New Member

bobr1 New Member

tumbleweed Senior Member

longjohn931 New Member

rufaro WeePoo, Gen II

Skwyre7 What's the catch?

daronspicher Active Member

bobr1 New Member

naterprius Senior Member

taoofbean New Member

About PriusChat

Quick Navigation

Like us on Facebook

Buy us a beer!

Useful Searches

How not to drive your Prius on the sidewalk.

bobr1 New Member

Jeannie Proud Prius Granny

TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator Staff Member

hobbit Senior Member

taoofbean New Member

daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

Maytrix Member

Salsawonder New Member

bobr1 New Member

tumbleweed Senior Member

Salsawonder New Member

bobr1 New Member

tumbleweed Senior Member

longjohn931 New Member

rufaro WeePoo, Gen II

Skwyre7 What's the catch?

daronspicher Active Member

bobr1 New Member

naterprius Senior Member

taoofbean New Member

TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
Staff Member