Woman cited after wrong-way car crash

A Eugene woman was cited early Thursday morning for driving under the influence of intoxicants after police say the eastbound car she was driving the wrong way on a one-way street ran a red light at the intersection of East 11th Avenue and Hilyard Street and struck another vehicle.

Allison Faye Roberts, 31, was cited for DUII after the 1:43 a.m. crash in which her car struck another vehicle northbound on Hilyard, according to Eugene police. The impact of the collision caused Roberts’ car to flip and strike an Oregon Taxi that was stopped at the intersection, police said. Roberts was taken to a local hospital and then released, according to police. No other motorists involved were taken to the hospital.

It was the third car crash this month in Eugene involving allegedly intoxicated drivers. The previous two crashes each resulted in the deaths of those hit by motorists who police say had blood-alcohol levels over the legal limit of .08. And one of them also involved a wrong-way driver, police say.

On Nov. 8, Eldridge McCoy Maready, 75, of Eugene, had a blood-alcohol level double the legal limit when he drove the wrong-way on Interstate 105, over the Washington-Jefferson Bridge, and slammed head-on into Florence resident Gerald Taylor Brooks, 53, resulting in his death, according to a police officer’s sworn affidavit recently made public.

Just six days ago, on Saturday, 24-year-old University of Oregon student Craig Macfie, of Scotland, was killed while riding his bicycle at 2:30 a.m. near the intersection of East 11th Avenue and High Street. Police say another UO student, Patrick Joseph Compton, 21, was driving his Toyota 4Runner westbound on East 11th Avenue when the vehicle struck Macfie from behind. Compton was arraigned Monday on charges of second-degree manslaughter and misdemeanor drunken driving in connection with the crash.

If convicted of manslaughter, both Maready and Compton would face mandatory minimum prison terms of six years and three months under Oregon’s Measure 11.

Eugene police spokeswoman Melinda McLaughlin said Thursday that three DUII crashes in Eugene in a 17-day period is not necessarily out of the ordinary.

“It’s kind of hard to say,” she said. “You’d have to have a large period of time to say it’s a trend. But anytime you mix alcohol and thousand-pound vehicles, it’s a bad mix.”

In January 2009, a 25-year-old Eugene man, Matthew Ellmers, ran a red light at a high rate of speed at the intersection of West 11th Avenue and Bertlesen Road, slamming into a car carrying five people. Four of them died. Ellmers was convicted of manslaughter in July 2009, and received a 20-year prison sentence.