Crash involving motorhome and semi caught on dashcam
By Shannon Weidemann (McKone) on Tuesday, May 9th, 2023 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
PENDLETON- This is an update on a story we brought you yesterday regarding a crash along I-84 near milepost 177 about 32 miles west of Pendleton on Friday, May 5, 2023.
That crash involved a motorhome making an unsafe lane change while attempting to pass a semi-truck.
Since the release of information and a video of that crash, the driver of the semi-truck, Brian Turman Poarch, 44, of Yale, Virginia, that was hit by the motorhome has reached out with some information that he wants people to know.
Poarch, the driver of the semi-truck, says that what the average citizen doesn’t understand is that it takes the length of three football fields to stop a semi-truck traveling 65 miles per hour, they can’t just stop quickly like people wish they would. He noted that at the time of the incident he was working on legally passing another semi, after passing a passenger vehicle. While Poarch was traveling in the left lane, after just passing a passenger vehicle, the motorhome driver veered between the passenger car in the right lane that Poarch had just passed, before speeding up in the right lane, veering into the left lane to pass him. That is when the crash occurred.
Poarch says the biggest part of the incident that bothers him the most is that a child was injured.
Below is the original information released by Oregon State Police on May 8, 2023
PENDLETON – The Oregon State Police reports five people suffered minor injuries in a crash on Interstate 84 Friday at approximately 12:30 p.m. The incident occurred when troopers report a motor home made an unsafe lane change while attempting to pass a semi in the westbound lanes near milepost 177.
The driver of the motor home is Michael D. Battle, 35, of Hampton, Virginia. Also suffering minor injuries were three juveniles aged 16, 14, and 2, and Leah Suzensky, 40, also of Hampton. The driver of the semi, Brian Turman Poarch, 44, of Yale, Virginia, was not injured. Battle was issued a citation for an unlawful lane change.
As the video from OSP shows, Battle was attempting to pass in the right hand lane and clipped the semi when he was moving into the left lane. The motorhome left the road on its side, coming to rest on the shoulder.
