Public safety officers spent Wednesday afternoon cleaning up mangled tires and severed handlebars after a University student apparently had a seizure at the wheel and drove his vehicle into a bike rack outside a residence hall.
The student, whose name is being withheld by the Eugene Police Department, suffered no injuries and voluntarily walked to the University Health Center for further evaluation.
According to an EPD report, the 18-year-old student had a seizure as he drove his Jeep Cherokee through the intersection at 13th Avenue and Agate Street, heading toward Hayward Field. He slowed and moved the vehicle to the side of the road before blacking out.
The vehicle continued on the Agate Street sidewalk parallel to the road until it collided with a speed sign near the crosswalk and the bike racks outside Smith Hall.
As Department of Public Safety officers tossed random, destroyed bikes and bike pieces into the bed of a truck, maintenance workers with University Housing used a power saw to cut through the rack’s thick metal bars to free other damaged bikes still connected with locks.
Public safety officers at the scene and at the DPS office wouldn’t comment on the incident.
But EPD Officer Peter Aguilar said students who discovered Wednesday that their bikes had been destroyed and impounded by DPS could get the student’s insurance information from the police report and file a claim.
Aguilar, one of the first officers on the scene, said approximately 13 bikes suffered major damage. The Cherokee sustained about $1,000 in damage, and it will cost another $1,000 to repair the bike racks.
A number of other bikes had minor damage.
Mike Tardiff, facilities maintenance manager for University Housing, said the racks and roof shelter above them will be replaced in the near future.
Wednesday’s collision mirrors an incident Monday afternoon in Springfield, where a 33-year-old man drove his truck into a Springfield Hollywood Video store, causing extensive damage.
Springfield police said the man apparently suffered from a seizure or some other kind of medical emergency.
Aguilar said seizures at the wheel are not especially common but have been the cause of more than a few accidents in recent years.
“It happens a lot more frequently than we would expect,” he said.
