ALBANY, Ore. (AP) — Authorities released Monday the names of the day laborers who were killed or injured last Thursday in one of Oregon’s deadliest car crashes.
Oregon State Police have released the names of the seven people who were killed and four who were injured when a cargo truck veered off Interstate 5 and collided with a van containing workers parked across the street. on the side of the road near Albany, an agricultural region of the Willamette Valley.
The people were identified as Eduardo López, 31; Alejandro Jimenez Hernandez, 36; Josué García García, 30; Luis Enrique Gomez Reyes, 30; Javier Suarez, 58; Alejandra Espinoza Carpio, 39; and Juan Carlos Leyva Carrillo, 37.
The people who suffered serious injuries have been identified as María Flores Martínez, 60 years old; Hector Galindo, 45; and José Eduardo Solís Flores, 41. Adán García García, 40, suffered minor injuries, police said. Martínez, Galindo and Solís Flores were still receiving medical treatment Monday at medical facilities, police added.
The Mexican consulate in Portland said that both the dead and the injured were day laborers of Mexican nationality. All but one of the others lived in Oregon cities near the crash site, police said.
When the truck crashed into the van, he pushed it into the back of another truck that was parked in front of the vehicle. A 36-year-old man who was in that vehicle was uninjured, police added.
The truck driver, Lincoln Clayton Smith, 52, of North Highlands, California, was arrested Friday on suspicion of manslaughter, driving under the influence, reckless driving and assault, police said. He remained being held Monday without bail at the Marion County Jail.
It is currently unknown if Smith’s case has been assigned to the state public defender’s office or to a specific attorney.
Police said Monday that the criminal investigation into the crash was still open.
Albany is located between Salem and Eugene, regarding 70 miles (113 kilometers) south of Portland. Interstate 5 is the major north-south highway on the west coast of the United States.
