Redmond man hurt in Eastern Oregon crash
Published 5:00 am Monday, August 6, 2007
A Redmond man was critically injured in a single-vehicle crash early Sunday morning on a Wallowa County highway. Four other people were also injured in the accident.
Michael Lee Williams, 26, of Redmond, was transported by air ambulance to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Wash., according to a news release from Oregon State Patrol.
Williams and two other people, Brian B. Beauloleil Jr., 34, and Damon Lee Stevens, 32, both of La Grande, were initially all listed in critical condition and transported to Spokane. Beauloleil had been driving.
Two other passengers, Lawrence W. Puckett Jr., 31, of Arlington, Texas, and Stacy D. Williams, 35, from Bonney Lake, Wash., were listed in stable condition at Wallowa Memorial Hospital, according to the news release.
The group had been riding in a four-door 2002 Chrysler Sebring that a sheriff’s deputy found crashed, with the men inside, on state Highway 351 near Wallowa Lake, according to the news release.
The group may have been connected to a bar fight in Joseph early Sunday morning. The car matched the description of a vehicle that had left the bar earlier.
The news release did not state how or why the Chrysler Sebring crashed. Williams was riding in the back seat of the car at the time of the crash. Oregon State Police believe alcohol may have been a factor in the crash, the news release said. It’s unclear if the men were wearing seat belts.
OSP and Wasco County Sheriff’s officials were unable to provide additional details Sunday night.
All five were visiting Wallowa Lake for a family reunion, the news release said.