PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Last Sunday, street racers took over the Fremont Bridge, burning rubber and doing donuts for about 20 minutes.
Kristin Britton Dills was heading home that night when she found herself stuck with a front-row seat. She opened her door — confused — got out and started filming. She said about 30 other people did, as well, coming dangerously close to the spinning cars.
“It felt really dangerous,” she said. “Then I was concerned that someone was going to get hit.”
It turns out, elsewhere on that night, street racers did the same thing at Marine Drive and North Portland Road, and as Britton Dills feared when she saw the stunts, someone did get hit.
Sage Fletcher said he was at that intersection for a car meet that police had previously cleared. That’s when the street racers took over and started doing donuts and burnouts. He said he was stuck and couldn’t drive away, so he decided to get a closer look.
“Right at that moment when I turned around and wasn’t looking is when he slid out and swiped me from under my feet,” Fletcher said. “I don’t remember being hit, I don’t remember half the questions they were asking me.
“I’m just like dude — like, I could have died.”
Fletcher suffered a concussion and a broken ankle. He still needs X-rays on his knee to see further damage.
Fletcher said the group that was performing the stunts was the same group caught on camera shutting down the Fremont Bridge later that night.
The driver of the 1990s Ford Mustang left the scene. Portland Police are still looking for the hit-and-run suspect.
On Sunday, a week after Fletcher was hit, another person was struck during a street racing incident in Northeast Portland. A person, who wasn’t identified was hit near the street racing in a parking lot near Northeast 142nd Avenue and Northeast Airport Way. The driver, later identified and booked into Multnomah County Jail as 22-year-old Vladyslav Momotok, left the scene. He was booked on two charges including reckless driving.
Street racing in Portland, according to Dave Thompson with the Oregon Dept. of Transportation, is not a new thing.
“It’s happened a number of times in the past,” Thompson said.
“Each time we just scratch our heads.”
Thompson also added that street racing can be dangerous for not only the drivers, but other people, as evidenced by Fletcher getting hit.
“You’re putting their lives at risk for your fun,” Thompson said.