By Sujena Soumyanath and David Nuñez
oregonlive.com
PORTLAND, Ore. — A Washington County Sheriff’s Office corrections deputy died Wednesday afternoon after the motorized scooter he was riding collided with a car, the sheriff’s office reported.
Richard Thompson was riding home just after 5 p.m. when a car traveling east on West Baseline Road made a right turn at the Southwest 201st Avenue intersection in Aloha, sheriff’s officials said Thursday.
Thompson was also heading east on his electric scooter and hit the back passenger door of the turning car, the sheriff said during a news conference.
People nearby when the crash happened – and then sheriff deputies and first responders – tried to save Thompson, but the husband and father of two died at the scene, the sheriff’s office reported.
Linn Eaton, a resident of Amber Court Apartments, said he was outside when he saw Thompson riding the scooter with a helmet on and a car slamming into him.
A nurse who lived nearby performed CPR on Thompson until help arrived, Eaton said.
Thompson, an avid outdoorsman and fisherman, had worked at the Washington County Sheriff’s Office since 2001 and was most recently assigned to the court security unit.
Thompson was a part of a program that allowed inmates to work on weekends outside the jail and received a service award in 2018 for grabbing a man who was on the verge of jumping off a two-story house while on a work detail.
“Rich put himself at great risk to grab the adult in custody and lower him down,” Washington County Sheriff Caprice Massey said. “He did not think twice in making this honorable decision.”
The Washington County Interagency Crash Analysis Reconstruction Team, led by the Forest Grove Police Department, is investigating the crash.
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