Names of farmworker victims in deadly Oregon crash released
May 22, 2023, 5:03 PM
ALBANY, Ore. (AP) — The names of the farmworkers killed and injured Thursday in one of Oregon’s deadliest highway crashes have been released.
The Oregon State Police on Monday released the names of the seven people who died and the four who were injured when a semitruck left Interstate 5 and slammed into a van carrying the workers as it was parked on the roadside near Albany, an agricultural area of the Willamette Valley.
The people who died were identified as: Eduardo Lopez, 31; Alejandro Jimenez Hernandez, 36; Josue Garcia Garcia, 30; Luis Enrique Gomez Reyes, 30; Javier Suarez, 58; Alejandra Espinoza Carpio, 39; and Juan Carlos Leyva Carrillo, 37.
Those with serious injuries have been identified as Maria Flores Martinez, 60; Hector Galindo, 45; and Jose Eduardo Solis Flores, 41. Adan Garcia Garcia, 40, suffered an injury police described as minor. Martinez, Galindo and Solis Flores were still at medical facilities on Monday receiving treatment, police said.
The Mexican Consulate in Portland said all of those injured and killed were farmworkers of Mexican nationality. All but one were listed by police as living in Oregon cities near the crash.
The van when hit was pushed into the back of another truck that had been parked in front of it. A 36-year-old Gresham man in that vehicle was uninjured, police said.
The driver of the semitruck that rammed into the van, Lincoln Clayton Smith, 52, of North Highlands, California, was arrested Friday on suspicion of manslaughter, driving under the influence of intoxicants, reckless driving and assault, police said. He remained held without bail in Marion County Jail on Monday.
It wasn’t yet clear whether Smith’s case had been assigned to the state public defender’s office or a specific attorney.
Police said Monday that the criminal investigation into the crash was ongoing.
Albany lies between Salem and Eugene and is about 70 miles (113 kilometers) south of Portland. I-5 is the main north-south interstate highway on the West Coast.
