Sean C. Morgan
A Sweet Home man was killed Sunday evening when a wheelchair on which he was riding was struck by a van, police said.
Robert “Bobby” Vernon Kristoph Johnson, 23, of Sweet Home was killed while apparently crossing Highway 20 on a motor-assisted power chair.
Sweet Home police, fire and medical personnel responded to the collision in the 4100 block of Main Street at about 5:01 p.m. Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene.
The collision involved a 1999 Dodge Caravan driven by Carol Ann Perez, 56, and Johnson on the battery-operated three-wheeled power chair.
Perez was traveling east on Main Street, said Police Chief Jeff Lynn. He said it appears that Johnson was in the outside eastbound lane, crossing from north to south on Main Street near 40th Avenue, near Cedar Shack drive-in, when the collision occurred.
“There was another subject with Mr. Johnson, who was riding a bicycle and had crossed ahead of Mr. Johnson,” Lynn said.
The chair was black with a small amount of maroon and had few if any reflectors, Lynn said. The collision occurred around dusk.
The chair was the type disabled and elderly customers might use at department and grocery stores, Lynn said. Johnson was not disabled.
“Bobby loved to ride anything that had a motor,” said his girlfriend Candalynn Johnson. It belonged to his mother, who used it to get around.
Johnson said she was at work at Taco Time when Bobby Johnson’s uncle came in and told her what was going on.
She learned that he was crossing the road wearing a dark jacket, she said. The driver apparently didn’t see him and didn’t hit the brakes.
He was just out riding with his friend, David Waters, who was on Candalynn Johnson’s bicycle, she said.
Candalynn Johnson lived with Bobby Johnson, and they had been together for about two years.
“He was the kind of guy that would help everybody,” she said. “Even though he needed the money, he would do it anyway. He could say no to me when I told him not to work for free.”
But he couldn’t tell anyone else no if they needed something, Johnson said. “I cannot think of one person who hated him. No one disliked Bobby.”
He loved being around people, and he was always nice, Johnson said. He loved anything with a motor and loved working on motors. She called him the “ultimate repairman.”
“He was just always excited about everything,” Candalynn Johnson said. She met him at the lake.
She said the first time he asked her out, she rejected him and walked away.
“The second time, I thought he was too old and too good-looking, so I was really nervous,” Johnson said. She said someone had damaged his boat and that led to a conversation about boats. kid had just stabbed his boat.
“We connected almost against our will. We had to be together. I will miss him more than anything.”
The Linn County Major Accident Investigation Team is assisting with the continuing investigation, Lynn said.
A memorial will be held on Dec. 3 at Trinity Baptist in Lebanon.
If anyone would like to donate, Johnson said to send it to the Sweet Home Funeral Chapel for Robert Johnson.
“Any help would be greatly appreciated by the family,” Johnson said. “Thank you to everyone who was a part of his life. He will always touch the hearts of all of us.”