Man charged with careless driving after crash into vehicles and patio seating

At 4:08 p.m. on April 30, multiple Eugene Police officers and Eugene Springfield Fire responded in emergency mode to a reported multiple-vehicle crash, with one vehicle going through a restaurant's patio seating.

After an investigation, EPD officers determined a man in his 50s was driving his Dodge C2500 pickup south on Willamette Street near E. 15th Avenue and collided with the back of one car and then collided immediately after that with another car. He then drove without breaking about a block and went through a wooden, outdoor patio-seating area of Bar Purlieu, then continued another block south before coming to a stop.

When police officers checked with the driver (including a drug recognition expert), there were no signs of impairment and the driver reported he panicked and confused the break and accelerator pedals. He was cited for Careless Driving and EPD submitted a DMV re-test form to ascertain his driving ability. The driver of the first vehicle hit, a Subaru, was evaluated, as well as the driver of the second car, a Toyota Camry. None of the involved drivers had injuries requiring emergency transport, and no one had been sitting in the bar's patio area when the crash occurred. The truck was inoperable and towed from the scene.

Case 24-06151