By Jennifer Moody
ALBANY -- A chain-reaction crash on Interstate 5 Saturday afternoon sent five people to the hospital and shut down freeway traffic for an hour.
Oregon State Police said none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.
The crash took place about 4:30 p.m. and involved four cars, all traveling north. It occurred in the left-hand lane of the freeway next to the Albany Municipal Airport.
Lt. Andy Olson said the chain reaction began when the first car, a 1988 Mazda driven by Max Karl Key, 21, of Portland, struck the back of a Toyota Tercel driven by Ryan Shane Rejda, 21, of Woodburn. Rejda's car then hit a 1996 Kia driven by Deann Marciel Davis, 41, of Coquille, and the Kia then hit a 1995 Ford driven by Deborah Michelle Jensen, 34, of Central Point.
Albany fire department medics took Rejda to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis. Key and his two passengers, Simon Comer, 18, and Tony M. Thayer, 19, both of Portland; and a passenger in the Davis vehicle, Candi D. Wilson, 19, of Colorado; were taken to Samaritan Albany General Hospital.
A nursing supervisor at Good Samaritan said Rejda was not listed on her census Saturday, which could mean either that he had been released or possibly that he had been taken to the emergency room and not yet admitted into another part of the hospital.
The four patients at Samaritan Albany all were treated and released.
Key was cited for careless driving.
Oregon State Police troopers blocked both northbound lanes for half an hour while they did their initial investigation, routing traffic toward Knox Butte Road and then across to Century Drive. Troopers were later able to open the left-hand lane to move traffic.
Olson said the crash appeared to have been caused by slow traffic from an earlier collision farther north on the interstate.
OSP dispatchers said that accident happened at about 2:30 p.m. at Exit 243, near Ankeny Hill. It also involved a four-car chain reaction caused by slowing traffic. The fourth vehicle in the chain was towing a fifth-wheel, which rolled and came to rest on its top. Some of the vehicle occupants received minor injuries and were taken to hospitals, but their names and conditions were not known.