Man Critically Injured in Car-Truck Crash

Date: May 26, 2010
Location: U.S. Highway 97 near Madras, Oregon
Names: John Easterling, Balihar Singh

A 79-year-old Madras, Oregon man was critically injured May 26, 2010, when the car he was driving crashed with a commercial truck, according to the Madras Pioneer. The truck driver was not injured in the crash, which happened sometime after 9:20 PM on U.S. 97 north of Madras.

Preliminary investigation by Oregon State Police indicates that John Easterling, 79, was driving a passenger car in the northbound lane when it crashed nearly head-on with a loaded semi truck and trailer driven by Balihar Singh, 47, of Sacramento, California.

Easterling was initially taken by ambulance to Mountain View Hospital, then flown by Air Link air ambulance to St. Charles Medical Center in Bend for treatment of critical injuries.

The semi truck caught fire and was completely destroyed.

OSP troopers are continuing to investigate with the help of a crash reconstructionist, and are checking into a report that Easterling was driving without headlights, and Singh swerved to try to avoid the collision.

The Oregon truck crash closed the highway for four hours while hazmat crews and towing personnel worked to remove the vehicles.

We would like to let Easterling know that we’re thinking of him, and we send our wishes for a quick recovery. We are also thinking of Singh, and we’re grateful he survived without injury.

At this point, we don’t know what happened to cause this crash. If you’ve been in an Oregon accident, you probably have many questions too. But after an accident, there’s so much confusion and trauma, our minds don’t often focus where they need to be. When you should be focusing on your health and recovery, you’re distracted by a million financial questions – medical bills, insurance policies, lost wages. How will you and your family get through it?

Fortunately, victims have resources. That’s why we’re here. We’re not ambulance chasers; we’re lawyers who feel it is our duty to help injured people deal with the insurance companies. And the first thing you should do after getting the medical help you need is to go to our website – not to give us your business, but to read our free tips, download helpful documents, or request a free copy of our book. And if that’s not enough, you can always contact our Portland truck accident attorneys to ask us any questions.