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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 2019)
NEWS A6 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2019 Man faces charges after driving wrong way on I-84 By PHIL WRIGHT STAFF WRITER Cody Vela of La Grande was returning home Thurs- day with his girlfriend and their five children when he saw the dark pickup bear- ing down at them on Cab- bage Hill. “I was like, what the heck is that? Was that guy in the lane?” he recalled Monday. “It takes you second.” The 6-mile-long grade on Interstate 84 east of Pendle- ton spans three lanes along the climb into the Blue Mountains. Vela and his family were head- ing east in their SUV Field in the far left pass- ing lane, the same lane the Toyota Tacoma occupied. Vela estimated he was going about 70 mph and the pickup was zooming along at 80-85 mph. “Luckily, we didn’t have anybody to the right of us in the second and third lanes,” he said. “I told everybody hang on.” Vela crossed out of the way and watched the Toyota Tacoma zoom by and noted the driver, a man, was the lone occupant. Vela said he was able to pull over about a quarter-mile later and called 911. He said he overheard another dispatcher talking to another motorist about the same wrong-way driver. Brad Samuelson of Pocatello, Idaho, may have been the first to call 911 Courtesy photo A dark-colored Toyota Tacoma truck travels the wrong way in the eastbound lane of I-84 near milepost 224 in this image captured on Brad Samuelson’s dashcam Thursday afternoon near Pendleton. about the wrong-way driver. Samuelson, a pilot car driver, said he left a manu- factured home in The Dalles that day was heading up the big hill in the far right lane when he came around a blind corner near mile- post 224 and saw the Toyota pickup moving the opposite direction in the far left lane. “At first it didn’t even register because he passed me on my left,” Samuelson said. “Then I went, wait a second.” He got on his CB radio and asked other drivers if he saw what he thought he saw. Truckers confirmed it, he said, and one claimed the pickup driver had a bottle of whisky to his lips. Samuelson said he pulled over as soon he as could and called 911, then realized how close a call this was. “Just moments before that, I was in lane 1,” he said. Samuelson’s dash- cam captured video of the pickup at 3:36 p.m. going west in the eastbound fast Two unrelated arrests have cattle connection HERMISTON HERALD The Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office reported making two arrests this month with a connection to cattle. Deputy Trevor Limburg was on patrol Sunday on Powerline Road near Uma- tilla when he observed a truck hauling a trailer with cattle inside. The sheriff’s office reported the truck and trailer “was weaving heavily all over the road across both lanes.” Limburg stopped the rig and contacted the driver, Alberto Frias Madrigal, 50, of Hermiston. He showed signs of alco- hol consumption, the sher- iff’s office reported, and Limburg smelled the odor of alcohol coming from him. Madrigal also performed “very poorly during the field sobriety tests,” according to the sheriff’s office, and Lim- burg arrested him for driv- ing under the influence of intoxicants. Madrigal’s family mem- ber arrived to retrieve the truck, trailer and cattle. Lim- burg cited Madrigal for the DUII and reckless driv- ing and released him to the relative. The sheriff’s office also reported a deputy nabbed a man who was trying to steal a cattle chute. Deputy Cody Marcum on Friday, Nov. 1, took a report involving the attempted theft of a hydraulic cattle chute from a farm supply business near Hermiston. An employee arrived at about 7 a.m. on Nov. 1 and found two men wear- ing black ski masks in back of the business who had attached the large cattle chute to a hitch on a small, 2008 Nissan Versa sedan. The employee told the sus- pects to stop, and they unhooked the cattle chute and sped off. But the witness jot- ted down the Washing- ton license plate on the car and gave a detailed descrip- tion of events to the deputy. The sheriff’s office checked records and found the plate number did not belong on the Nissan, while the correct license plate for the car was an Oregon plate belonging to Eric Nava, 24, of Herm- iston. Nava also matched the employee’s description of one of the suspects. A Hermiston police offi- cer Monday stopped Nava’s vehicle and contacted the sheriff’s office. Deputy Nathan Rankin arrived and noticed the bogus Wash- ington license plate inside Nava’s vehicle. Nava gave his consent to search the vehicle, and Rankin found a black ski mask along with drug paraphernalia. lane. He provided the video to the East Oregonian, which shared it on Face- book and with other com- pany newspapers. State police trooper Jer- emy Gunter responded to the calls about the wrong- way pickup and found it near milepost 219, where other drivers forced it to stop after a minor collision. The driver, Kenneth Oscar Field, 50, of St. George, Utah, appeared impaired, according to state police, and Gunter arrested him on accusa- tions of driving under the influence of intoxicants and booked him into the Uma- tilla County Jail, Pendle- ton, for the DUII, reckless driving and four counts of reckless endangering. Each reckless endangering charge relates to someone who had to share the road with Field. More charges could be coming. Gunter contacted the EO, which provided him with Samuelson’s con- tact information. Samuel- son said he talked to state police and handed over a copy of the video. Kristi Flanagan is glad she started her drive Thurs- day from Pendleton to her home in Baker City as late as she did. Flanagan, whose daugh- ter is a student at Blue Mountain Community Col- lege, said she was ascend- ing the curves of Cab- bage Hill when she saw the pickup parked on the left shoulder of the eastbound lanes. The pickup was nose- to-nose with an Oregon State Police car and point- ing downhill. Flanagan said she was curious because the pickup seemed to have been heading downhill when it stopped. It wasn’t until Friday morning, when she saw the Facebook post on the Baker City Herald‘s page, that Flanagan realized what had happened not long before she passed that pickup. Fla- nagan said that’s quite likely the lane she would have been driving in — going the opposite direction. “There’s usually trucks in the right two lanes,” she said. “Thank goodness we weren’t going up 20 minutes earlier.” Vela said he was glad state police took the driver off the road. Samuelson expressed a similar sentiment. “I’ve never encountered anything like that,” he said, “and I’m just glad no one was hurt.” ——— Jayson Jacoby of the Baker City Herald contrib- uted to this story. TRCI inmate dies in custody been notified. Kessler was in the facility’s hos- pice program. Kessler entered DOC custody on Oct. 1, 1982, from Multnomah County with an earliest release date of Oct. 1, 2052. TRCI is a multi-custody prison in Umatilla that houses approxi- mately 1,800 adults in custody. HERMISTON HERALD While Nava denied any involvement in the crime, according to the sheriff’s office, he could not explain the items in his vehicle. Rankin booked Nava into Kessler An inmate died in custody Thursday evening at Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Uma- tilla, according to the Oregon Department of Corrections. Stephen Kessler, 76, passed away in the infirmary. The Oregon State Police have NO MORE GUTTER CLEANING, OR YOUR MONEY BACK – GUARANTEED! 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