Truck driver cited in Link Fire wreck

The driver of a truck involved in a fatal accident on Highway 20 while hauling equipment to the Link Fire last July has been cited for careless driving in the incident, according to Oregon State Police.

OSP also reported that the driver of the passenger car, who died along with two passengers in the wreck, had a blood-alcohol level that was over the .08 legal limit.

The accident occurred on July 6 at approximately 3:42 a.m. on Highway 20, 11 miles west of Sisters

Glen Kraus Jr., 41, and his two passengers, Bernadine Arlene Mattson, 45, and Kathy Rose Stout, 46, were killed when their 1983 Chevrolet Cavalier crashed into a tractor-trailer rig on Highway 20 between Camp Sherman and Suttle Lake.

According to Oregon State Police, Richard Caudle, 59, of Prineville was hauling a large Caterpillar bulldozer on a lowboy trailer, westbound enroute to the Link Fire, which had broken out the previous afternoon.

According to OSP, Caudle had been westbound on Highway 20 when he turned left onto a Forest Service road.

"Caudle came to a stop with his truck on the side road and his lowboy trailer blocking both eastbound lanes of Highway 20," OSP reported. "Mr. Kraus, who was eastbound on Highway 20, then slammed his vehicle into the right rear portion of the lowboy trailer."

An Oregon State Police crash reconstructionist determined that Caudle was operating the truck and lowboy trailer in violation of a special move permit because he failed to have the required "pilot vehicles," and lighting on the outermost edges of the caterpillar blade.

OSP issued Caudle a citation of careless driving on October 17.

According to OSP, toxicology results indicated that Kraus "had an amount of alcohol in his system that would put him above the minimum .08 that is considered to be legally under the influence of intoxicants." The passengers were also reportedly under the influence.

The Link Fire was human caused; investigators have yet to determine whether accidental or deliberate.