Bend family sues school district, construction company, after child is struck by car

Published 8:30 am Wednesday, May 3, 2023

A Bend family whose teenage daughter was hit by a car while crossing the street near a local middle school is suing Bend-La Pine Schools for negligence, alleging it failed to adequately provide crossing guards, signs and lights prior to the crash.

Brian E. Cutler Jr. and his teenage daughter are also suing TAC Construction Inc., and its employee, Charles Laurie, who drove the company’s car involved in the crash on March 29, 2022, according to Deschutes County Circuit Court records filed April 17.

The girl was 12 and attending Pilot Butte Middle School as a sixth grader at the time of the crash at the intersection of NE Neff Road and NE Parkridge Drive, a crossing area used by students at the middle school and nearby Juniper Elementary School.

The crash occurred less than three years after students lobbied the city to improve safety at the intersection, saying it was dangerous even though it was in a school speed zone. “We’ve almost been hit by cars a couple times, because they’ve been speeding through or didn’t stop for us,” Hai Xing Lewis, a 13-year-old student at the time, told The Bulletin in 2019.

At the time, the city of Bend said Pilot Butte staff had complained about Neff’s crosswalks many times over the years, and that the city had planned on enhancing the crossings.

Since 2021, there have been seven reported crashes within the roughly four-block area that encompasses this intersection, from Neff Road and NE 13th Street to NE Leehaven Lane, according to data from Bend Police obtained by The Bulletin.

Two were hit-and-run incidents, the data show. Of the five other crashes in that time frame, three resulted in injuries.

The girl — who The Bulletin will not name because she is a minor — was crossing Neff Road when Laurie, who was driving west, “failed to yield to (the student) while she was in the westbound lane of the marked crosswalk and struck her with” TAC Construction’s vehicle, the lawsuit states.

The crash left the girl with a broken nose, “frequent” nosebleeds, headaches, loose teeth, bruises and other markings and pain, the lawsuit states. It has also interfered with her everyday life, the lawsuit states.

The family seeks more than $311,000 in damage, including for medical expenses. Brian Cutler lives in La Pine and has joint custody over his two daughters with their mother, Aimee Faast, who lives in Redmond, records show.

Through attorneys with High Desert Law, a Bend-based personal injury law firm, the Cutlers allege the district failed to take a number of steps to make the intersection safer during school hours. The allegations include:

• Failing to provide crossing guards at the intersection.

• Failing to “ensure that students had safe means to traverse the intersection near and in the school zone.”

• Failing to ensure there were “appropriate” signs and lights to warn vehicles about school children crossing the road.

• The Cutlers also allege that Laurie violated a number of Oregon’s driving rules — such as stopping and yielding for a pedestrian and driving recklessly and carelessly — prior to the crash, the lawsuit states. And they say TAC Construction did not provide employees with safe driving training and failed to “ensure that employees complied with local and state traffic laws.”

John R. Barhoum, a Portland-based attorney handling the school district’s insurance, said: “Given that there’s pending litigation, it would be inappropriate for us to comment at this time.”

Scott Maben, a school district spokesperson, also declined to comment on the active litigation but acknowledged that school officials have been aware of previous safety concerns around the intersection.

He said school officials encourage students to use the nearby crosswalk at Neff and Shepard roads. He said the district is funded to staff one paid crossing guard working 30-minute shifts in the morning and afternoon.

Tobey Tennison, the owner of TAC Construction, declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said: “If you read the police report and witness report, you’ll find that TAC construction and Laurie is not at fault.” (Bend Police did not fulfill a public records request for police reports prior to press time Tuesday.)

Laurie also did not return a call seeking comment. Tennison said his employee was declining to comment because of the active litigation.

David M. Rosen, an attorney handling the Cutlers’ case, also declined to comment. The Cutlers also declined to comment, Rosen said, adding that “the pleadings speak for themselves.”

Two middle school students raised concerns in The Bulletin in 2019 about this crosswalk on the busy east-west road.

The students, Hai Xing Lewis and Jordan Welsh, said lines of parents picking up their kids sometimes overflowed onto Neff, prompting students to wind their way through traffic, which they compared to the game Frogger. They said crossing guards were sometimes at both crosswalks but not all the time.

“It makes us feel a little angry that we’re not being noticed, and cars are just speeding through without acknowledging us,” Hai Xing said in 2019. “Most of them try not to even look at us. They just look somewhere else.”

Anne Aurand, a spokeswoman for the city of Bend, said the students’ project helped the city secure funding for the flashing school zone beacons, which were installed last summer.

In addition, she said in an email to The Bulletin, “there has also been an adjustment to the posted speed (limit) which was reduced to 25” mph around the designated school zone, where the limit is 20 mph.

The city of Bend has budgeted about $4 million through the voter-approved GO Bond for improvements on the Neff Road corridor and has so far spent $252,775 on improvements at its intersection with Purcell Boulevard, according to a city dashboard. The planned improvements include safe bike lanes and shared use paths. The estimated completion date for the construction is summer 2026.