More details on two crashes in Grant County
By Logan Bagett on Friday, July 15th, 2022 in Eastern/Southeast Oregon News More Top Stories
GRANT COUNTY – (Press Release from Grant County Sheriff Todd McKinley)
On July 14th Grant County Deputies and Emergency Services responded to a crash on Highway 26 in the Rock Creek section west of Picture Gorge.
Dayville Fire, ODOT, OSP and a Wheeler County Deputy all responded to the location as well.
Investigation found that Thomas James, 65, of Portland had been east bound near mile post 97 when his vehicle left the roadway on a left-hand curve. James’s vehicle struck the rock wall in the canyon, and was airborne for approximately 30 feet before landing and rolling once. James and his passenger, a dog, were shaken but reported no injuries.
Highway 26 was limited to one lane of travel for approximately two hours until the vehicle was removed by Frontier Towing of Mt. Vernon.
The area the crash occurred in was not part of the chip seal project occurring in the area.
A second crash occurred later that evening near mile post 32 on US 395. Deputies responded just before midnight and found this to be a non-injury crash as well.
Jason Baker, 43 of Las Vegas, reported he had swerved to avoid deer and rolled his vehicle. He was picked up by a passerby and given a ride into Burns. The vehicle was removed by Frontier Towing.
Sheriff McKinley would like to thank all those partner agencies that assisted with this crash scene and would like to advise motorist to use caution with all the gravel on the chip sealed road sections.
The Sheriff noted that the picture under this story’s headline was taken of the crash site at Rock Creek.
