AHS grad killed in Portland

Kipp Crawford, 31, twice run over by drunk drivers

It was not unusual for Kipp Crawford to be out pedaling his bicycle at 2 a.m., his mother, Jean Crawford of Ashland, said.

"He could have been coming from a gig or a recording session," she said Wednesday. "Music was pretty much central to his entire life."

Crawford, a drummer who played in at least three Portland-based bands — Celilo, Thanks Kipp and Fractal Quintet — was run over by two cars in Portland as he lay in the roadway near the intersection of North Willamette Boulevard and North Haven Avenue around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Portland police have accused the drivers of two vehicles with drunk driving in connection with the incident that killed the 31-year-old North Portland cyclist.

Police said Crawford was stretched out on the ground when he was hit by a Cadillac driven by 41-year-old Carlos Tyrone McCall, and an Isuzu SUV driven by 44-year-old Felisa Washington-Berry. Each was arrested and accused of one count of driving under the influence of intoxicants. Washington-Berry was also booked for reckless driving.

Crawford, one of two cyclists struck in the metro area Wednesday, was taken to Legacy Emanuel Hospital but later died of multiple blunt force trauma, the Multnomah County Medical Examiner's Office said.

"He was down on the ground when the two cars struck him," said Detective Mary Wheat, a spokeswoman for the Portland Police Bureau. "We don't know if he was riding or pushing the bike before he wound up in the roadway ... there's clearly something more to this."

McCall, of Northeast Portland, was convicted in 1991 for driving with a suspended license. Washington-Berry, also of Northeast Portland, was also convicted of driving while suspended, in 1996 and 1997.

Washington-Berry has been convicted of additional driving violations over the past decade: following too close, driving uninsured, driving without a license, driving with switched license plates, and failure to signal to turn or stop.

Earlier reports suggested Crawford, who became the fourth person to die in a bicycling accident in Portland this year, may have been intentionally pushed into the path of oncoming traffic. Portland television station KATU also reported that neighbors heard an argument prior to the incident.

"We just don't know what happened," said Crawford's father, Vernon Crawford. "We've talked to the police, but they haven't told us very much, but there are obviously some big gaps in the sequence of events."

Crawford graduated from Ashland High School in 1996, and had been living in Portland for the last seven years, his parents said. They said they planned to come to Portland in the next few days.

In addition to his parents, Crawford leaves behind a sister, they said.

Less than 12 hours after Crawford was struck and killed, a man on his bike in a crosswalk was struck by a car that witnesses said did not yield, Gresham Police said.

The man, 41-year-old Daniel Ornelas of Gresham, was taken to OHSU Hospital where he was listed in stable condition with a serious head injury. He was not wearing a helmet, police said.

Police said it was unclear if Crawford was wearing a bike helmet, but officials said it would not have made a difference in lessening his injuries.

"The investigators are obviously looking into any events that happened just prior to him getting hit, and during," Wheat said.

Police asked that anyone who had contact with Crawford Tuesday or early Wednesday contact Officer Peter Kurronen, the lead fatal traffic investigator, at 503-823-2208.

Reprinted courtesy of The Oregonian.


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