Gresham, Ore.— At 8:50 p.m. on Nov. 6., Gresham police officers and medical personnel responded to reports of a two-vehicle injury crash in the 600 block of SE Butler Rd.  Responders found that an eastbound Volkswagen Jetta with six Gresham-area teenagers had crossed the center line and crashed head-on into a westbound Ford F350 driven by a 40-year-old Gresham man. 

The male driver of the Jetta, 16-year-old Phoenix Forman, was pronounced dead at the scene.  A 16-year-old female passenger, Rita Grace “Gracie” Sukosd, died shortly after arriving at the hospital.  A second 16-year-old female passenger, Hailey Aguilar, recently died after being taken off life support.  The three other teenagers, one female and two males, and the driver of the pickup, all suffered various degrees of injury but are expected to survive.

The involved teenagers attended four different area high schools and the weight of this tragedy has been felt throughout the community.

The East Metro Vehicular Crimes Team is leading the investigation and working to determine what factors precipitated the crash.  No further information is available at this time.

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Gresham, Ore—On November 16, the Gresham Police Department will be teaming up with law enforcement agencies nationwide for a Border to Border (B2B) law enforcement event to kick off the annual Click It or Ticket seat belt campaign which runs through November 29. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is asking all states to participate in B2B, a 1-day national seat belt awareness event coordinated by participating state highway safety offices and their respective law enforcement liaisons. The B2B initiative aims to increase law enforcement participation by coordinating highly visible seat belt enforcement and providing seat belt fact sheets for drivers at heavily traveled, highly visible state border checkpoints.

According to NHTSA, in 2018, there were 9,778 unbuckled passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in the United States. In that same year, 56 percent of passenger vehicle occupants killed at night (6 p.m.–5:59 a.m.) were not wearing their seat belts. That’s why one focus of the Click It or Ticket campaign and the B2B kickoff event is nighttime enforcement. Participating law enforcement agencies will be taking a no-excuses approach to seat belt law enforcement, writing citations day and night. In Oregon, the maximum penalty for a seat belt violation is $120.

“The Click It or Ticket campaign is important because it helps raise awareness about seat belt safety and it reminds people that wearing seatbelts is required,” said Gresham Police Sgt. Jeff Cordes. “Thanksgiving is always one of the busiest holidays of the year for travel. Families will be traveling to spend time with their friends and loved ones, so it’s important that we remind people how crucial seat belts are to help keep them safe.”

“The goal of the enforcement campaign is to help people understand how dangerous it is to travel without a seat belt and how they can reduce fatalities and injuries in the event of a crash. If we can accomplish that, our mission will be a success,” said Sgt. Cordes. “If you, or someone you know, does not buckle up when traveling in a vehicle, please consider changing that habit. Ask your loved ones if they wear a seat belt and help us spread this lifesaving message before one more friend or family member is killed or seriously injured in a crash. Seat belts save lives, and everyone in a vehicle, of every age, needs to remember to buckle up on every trip, no matter how short it will be.” For more information on the Click It or Ticket campaign, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/ciot.

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