Note: This story was updated Thursday, May 19, 2022.
The Oregon State Police is investigating possible impairment as a factor in a two-vehicle crash Saturday, May 14, that killed two California residents and injured two other people, one critically, at Highway 20 near Liberty Road north of Sweet Home.
Investigators also seek witnesses who may have seen the crash or the suspect vehicle, detailed below; or who may have video. Contact the Oregon State Police Dispatch Center at (800) 442-0776 or OSP (*677) from a mobile phone. The reference case number is SP22-113804.
The collision was reported at 4:45 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
According to the OSP, a preliminary investigation revealed that Robert Prettyman, 33, of Brownsville, was traveling eastbound in a red Mazda3 and swerved across all lanes of traffic onto the westbound shoulder, then back into the eastbound lanes, where he collided with a silver Nissan Versa driven by Carl Curtis, 79, of Huntington Beach, Calif. He was attempting to avoid the crash, police said.
Curtis and his passenger, Yvonne Levy, 73, also of Huntington Beach, were pronounced deceased at the scene. Prettyman was transported to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis with non-life-threatening injuries. His 4-year-old passenger suffered critical injuries and was transported to Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital, then to a Portland-area hospital by LifeFlight. Neither the child’s name nor condition had been released as of Tuesday morning.
Highway 20 was closed for four hours as OSP reconstructed the incident for investigation.
The Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District, Linn County Sheriff’s Office and the Oregon Department of Transportation assisted at the scene. The Sweet Home agency requested mutual aid from the Lebanon Fire District and commended the work of bystanders who stopped to render aid and help with traffic control.