A collision between a motorcycle and a car on the tight curve near Menear’s Bend on Hwy. 20 Sunday afternoon sent an elderly man to the hospital, authorities said.
Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District personnel were dispatched to the scene, near Milepost 34 on Hwy. 20, shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday, May 18.
According to an Oregon State Police report and SHFAD Battalion Chief Eli Harris, motorcyclist Arnold Alex Pirnie, 77, was eastbound when he failed to negotiate the curve and, Harris said witnesses told rescuers, sideswiped a westbound Ford F150 pickup truck. That collision sent the motorcycle into a head-on crash with a Toyota RAV4. An OSP report did not clearly identify the drivers of the truck and SUV.
Harris said Pirnie was transported to the Samaritan Health Clinic in Sweet Home, where he was airlifted by a LifeFlight chopper to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Springfield. The highway was shut down while officials worked at the scene, Harris said.
The occupants of the RAV4 were transported via ground ambulance to Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital as a precaution.
The motorcycle and RAV4 were towed by All Star Towing of Sweet Home. ODOT and Sweet Home Fire assisted on scene.
The F150 was drivable and released from the scene.