A Portland barber, Robert Schlick, was riding his Harley motorcycle when he lost his leg in a tragic motorcycle accident Monday morning. The accident involved an alleged drunk driver and police said the driver had been arrested for DUI before. A car driven by Paul Conklin veered into his lane, police say, and right into Schlick’s Harley. Schlick says he tried to lay low to avoid the full force of the impact. The action helped him escape near-certain impalement on the car, but resulted in a shattering of his leg bone.

Schlick said he “laid down his bike” to avoid hitting Conklin head-on along Scholl’s Ferry Road, and the impact shattered his leg.
“It’s kind of an instinct. You realize you’re going to have to sacrifice the bike for yourself. Had I continued on, I probably would have impaled myself on the car,” Schlick told KGW News.
A 22-year-old Conklin, it was found after the motorcycle accident, had been driving under the influence. It wasn’t even his first offense from this kind of behavior. He had been arrested in June of 2007 for drunk driving. Then, the young Conklin had pleaded no contest to the charges, and had undergone treatment for alcoholism as part of his sentence. He was also required to spend time at a DUI counseling center to see first hand the impact that actions like his have on ordinary families.

Robert Schlick may be eligible for a hefty settlement for his injuries resulting from a motorcycle accident on Monday. Schlick is a motorcycle enthusiast, who also happens to be a barber by profession. This man needs to be standing for the most part of the day to actively partake in earning a livelihood, and the motorcycle accident that was caused by an alleged drunk driver has left Schlick with an amputated leg.

At this point, Conklin has not been charged with any crimes and authorities with the Washington County Sheriff’s office said his case will likely go to a grand jury next week with prosecutors also seeking assault charges.

Local officials of South El Monte have reported a relatively slow Halloween this holiday, except for one deadly accident. This past Halloween a woman lost her life in a two-car crash supposedly caused by alcohol in the San Gabriel Valley.
A 26-year-old woman, has been killed this past Halloween holiday accident. She was murdered in a DUI auto accident on October 31, 2008, in South El Monte. This woman has been identified as Nellyda Beltran-Cruz. She was pronounced dead at the accident scene, which occurred about 11:30 p.m. at the intersection of Santa Anita and Elliot avenues. This intersection has been identified by many residents as very busy and dangerous.
The other unidentified man, a 25-year-old whose name has not yet been released, was driving north on Santa Anita Avenue. The victimized woman was driving west on Elliot Avenue when the two cars collided. Traffic investigators say they suspect that the man was driving under the influence at the time of the accident. He has also been hospitalized in critical condition.
The investigation will be ongoing until more details are identified. If the man is convicted of driving under the influence he could face several different penalties based on the precise facts of the case, the policies of South El Monte, the weaknesses uncovered by the defense attorney, and the reputation of that attorney.
Depending on the driver’s past record. He could face sentence enhancements based upon having a prior conviction within ten years, speeding 20 mph over the limit, having a child under 14 in the car, having a blood-alcohol reading over .15%, and refusing to submit to chemical testing. California considers a blood alcohol content of 0.8 to be illegal while operating a motor vehicle.

A Vernon resident was killed in a drunk driving car accident on Lake Wallkill Road in Vernon Township near the intersection of Sleepy Hollow Road in New Jersey, township police said.
Ryan Olsen, 22, was pronounced dead at the scene and was one of three people in the car, officials said. He was in the back-seat of his friends care and was pronounced dead around 5 a.m. on a Saturday morning. The driver, Joseph Cavanaugh of Sussex, was charged with DWI, and reckless and other driving offenses. The 24-year-old driver was transported to a nearby hospital in Sussex where he was treated and released. The exact cause and speed of the vehicle at the time of the crash are not currently available, officials said. The accident is currently under investigation.
The front seat passenger, 24-year old Jason Concoy of Glenwood, was transported to Morristown Memorial Hospital in Morristown. A hospital spokesman said he had been treated and released.
Friends and family of a 22-year-old Vernon man killed in a drunken driving car accident over the weekend remembered the popular swimmer on Facebook, a social networking Web site, through sharing fond memories of him through photographs and comments.
As of Monday afternoon, nearly 400 people - including family, friends and swimming teammates and coaches - joined the Facebook.com group, “R.I.P. Ryan Olsen”.”I’m not sure how our family goes on from here,” his father Ron Olsen wrote Monday morning on a Facebook.com memorial Web site. “I always expected big things from you, and now I ask for one more. Please guide us through these sorrowful times. You were my life, my blood and my air,” his father added. “You completed this family and leave a void that can and will never be filled. We all love you so much. You were not just our Ryan, you were everyone’s Ryan.”

A Lakeside resident selling flowers on Lake Jennings Park Road under Interstate 8 was struck and killed by an oncoming pickup truck. The vehicle had crashed into a taxi and stopped in front of her Saturday evening just before 7 p.m., officials. According to reports, Gwendolyn Wheeler, a 49-year-old womean, was talking to a taxi that had pulled over on the shoulder of Lake Jennings Park Road when the driver of a pickup truck drove across lanes and on the raised shoulder, striking the parked taxi from the rear end. Ms. Wheeler died at a nearby hospital, and the taxi driver was seriously injured.
The pickup’s driver made a right turn onto north Lake Jennings Park Road where it drove across the lanes onto the eastern raised shoulder for about 100 feet for unknown reasons, the California Highway Patrold said. The driver of the pickup truck was not critically injured, but arrested for DUI on the suspicion of driving under the influence of prescription medication. After the driver was seen swerving on the shoulder, witnesses then reported seeing the pickup veer back onto the road before it crashed into the right rear of the taxi cab, according to the CHP.
Wheeler was flown to a hospital where she later died. The taxi driver, who was also seriously hurt, was hospitalized.
Loretta Harris, a longtime friend of Wheeler’s, said her friend sold flowers every Friday and Saturday. “That was the money that she lived on,” Harris said. Wheeler was reported as having a number of ailments, Harris said, including diabetes, congestive heart failure and sleep apnea. She had recently been released from the hospital and “was feeling great,” Harris said.
Despite her illnesses, Wheeler had a friendly demeanor and loyal customers. “Everyone just loved her. She would sit and wave all day and sell flowers,” Harris said. Wheeler’s friends hope to set up a memorial in her honor at Lindo Lake County Park where Wheeler would visit frequently, she said.
The collision is currently under further investigation.