Driver Plows SUV Into Three Women Walking on Portland State University Sidewalk: “It Looked Like He Ran Them Over”

A witness told KATU that he saw several women hit by a vehicle on the sidewalk in front of a Starbucks.

Portland State University Campus, near the site of the crash. (PSU)
By Katie Shepherd

The driver of an SUV plowed his car into at least three people walking on a sidewalk on the Portland State University campus this morning. Those victims are in the hospital, two with life-threatening injuries, Portland police say.

The crash occurred at the intersection near Southwest 6th Avenue and Montgomery Street on the Portland State University campus. A witness, Christopher Bond, said the blue SUV drove onto the sidewalk near the campus's streetcar plaza.

"It looked like he kind of ran them over," Bond told WW's news partner KATU-TV at the scene. He said it looked like the driver "gunned it" after hitting the first two people.

He said the car was driving between 40 and 45 miles per hour and described the three victims as women.

The driver sped away from the scene and is still at large. The Oregonian reports that police are looking for "a blue 2005 Mazda Tribute with front-end damage and a leaking radiator."

There is currently a heavy police and fire presence at the area and several streets in the area are shut down.

It is unclear if the collision was an accident or a purposeful attack. It comes at a sensitive moment: Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of a double slaying on a Portland MAX train by a white supremacist. On April 23, a man who wanted revenge on women killed seven people with his car in Toronto.

PSU student Vincent Vermilya tells WW that he walked outside shortly after the crash.

"I didn't see the hit and run," Vermilya says. "I came out after and saw people gathered around two people on the ground. I thought it might be medical practice but an ambulance came. One person talked, other seemed unconscious.

"A woman ran across 6th [Avenue] and yelled "People are crazy" and said a car drove onto sidewalk, hit people, and kept going. She said there was another person further south, and I saw someone laying outside Cafe Yumm. Cops and fireman arrived then."

This post has been updated. WW web editor Elise Herron contributed reporting.

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