Medical emergency leads to crash in Sisters

A 58-year-old man from Madras suffered a sudden medical emergency while driving into Sisters on Thursday morning, causing him to lose consciousness and crash his truck and trailer.

The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office reported that the local School Resource Deputy was on patrol in the City of Sisters at about 8:50 a.m., when he was flagged down by a pedestrian and notified of a traffic crash near the intersection of East Cascade Avenue and North Larch Street.

The deputy quickly arrived on scene to find a 2011 Chevrolet pickup pulling a 21-foot toy-hauler trailer, which had left the roadway, struck a light pole, went into a gravel drainage ditch, and then impacted a large tree.

Jim Cornelius

A driver lost consciousness and his truck and trailer rig crashed into a tree on the east side of Sisters on Thursday morning, April 8.

After a brief assessment of the driver, the deputy realized the driver was not breathing. A DCSO City of Sisters deputy arrived shortly afterward and together they removed the driver from the vehicle. The deputies began performing CPR on the driver and were joined moments later by an off-duty paramedic from the Black Butte Ranch Fire Department and an off-duty nurse. Working together, they continued CPR on the driver and utilized an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) until medics from the Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural Fire Protection District arrived and took over lifesaving efforts.

The driver was transported to St. Charles in Bend for continued care.

Deputies interviewed the passengers in the vehicle and other witnesses to the crash. According to DCSO, the investigation determined the driver was driving westbound on Highway 20, entering Sisters, when he lost consciousness due to an unspecified medical emergency. The other passengers in the vehicle attempted to regain control of the vehicle, but were unable to do so. The two passengers were also transported to St. Charles in Bend with non-life-threatening injuries.

The Oregon Department of Transportation and crews from the City of Sisters Public Works Department assisted the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office with this incident.