Drunk Driver Crashes into Multnomah County Sheriff’s SUV, Injuring Deputy and Shutting Down Freeway

A drunk driver crashed into a marked Multnomah County Sheriff’s patrol SUV on I-84 on Wednesday night, injuring a deputy sheriff.

Jose Juan Alvarez (49) of Beaverton was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on charges of DUI.

He was also served with traffic violation citations for failing to maintain the lane he was traveling, careless driving that contributed to an accident, and failure to install an ignition interlock device.

The incident occurred at 9.36 p.m. when the deputy sheriff was conducting a traffic stop on a driver traveling east on I-84 at Northeast Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard.

The vehicle pulled over onto the shoulder of the freeway and, because the shoulder is narrow and close to lanes of travel, the deputy remained in his vehicle and used a public address system to ask the driver to pull his vehicle forward to the freeway exit.

Seconds later, a driver in a Jeep Compass SUV crashed into the back of the deputy sheriff’s vehicle.

The impact resulted in the Jeep spinning back out into the freeway. Both the deputy and the Jeep driver were transported to the hospital where they were treated for minor injuries.

The Oregon Department of Transportation closed the eastbound lanes of Interstate 84 eastbound because of accident debris strewn across the lanes.

The accident was investigated by the Portland Police Bureau which concluded that a factor of the accident was that the Jeep driver was under the influence of alcohol.

The MCSO vehicle was badly damaged in the incident.

Officers from the PPB’s Central Precinct and North Precinct responded to the accident scene. Also in attendance were members of the Traffic Division MCSO and Emergency Medical Services.