UTPD, OSP patrol cars damaged in Sunday wreck
By Griffin Beach on Tuesday, September 16th, 2025 in Columbia Basin News Columbia Basin Top Stories
PENDLETON – Both a Umatilla Tribal Police vehicle and an Oregon State Police car are likely totaled after both vehicles were hit while responding to a crash Sunday on Interstate 84 near exit 213 in Pendleton.
Umatilla Tribal Police (UTPD) say at around 2:35 p.m. two UTPD officers responded to the eastbound lanes to assist Oregon State Police (OSP) with a motor vehicle crash. One of the UTPD vehicles and an OSP vehicle were parked on the south shoulder of the roadway with their emergency lights activated.
The other UTPD officer was parked 100 yards to the west of the accident scene to provide security and observed a black coupe vehicle drive past him going eastbound much faster than the other vehicles in the area. That officer observed the coupe hydroplane on the wet roads from the rain that day. The coupe then crashed into both the OSP and UTPD vehicles parked up the road at the accident scene.
Both patrol vehicles sustained significant damage and will likely be totaled as a result. The driver of the coupe sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to a hospital for evaluation; the officers were not injured. Criminal charges are pending for the driver of the coupe.
