By TOM HENDERSON
Gazette-Times reporter | Posted: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 12:00 am
Officials are looking for a silver pickup
Andrew Fraser worried the truck heading toward him and his friends on Thursday, Jan. 8, in the alleyway between Northwest 25th and 26th streets was going too fast.
He put his hand out for the truck to stop. It did, Fraser said. The truck stopped a good 40 feet away while Fraser's best friend, girlfriend and her friend got out of the alley. Fraser said he was still there, holding out his hand, when the driver of the truck revved his engine.
The next thing the 24-year-old Oregon State University student knew, the truck was barreling down on him. He said he doesn't know what happened after that. It's a blur.
He was taken to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center between 1 and 2 a.m. The initial police report said Fraser wasn't severely injured.
Fraser said that's not true: He suffered a skull fracture. Although the fracture didn't displace any bones, he suffered bleeding from his brain.
Fraser said he stayed in the hospital for two days before being released.
The truck that struck Fraser pulled into the alley from Harrison Boulevard, said Lt. Dave Henslee, a spokesman for the Corvallis Police Department.
Henslee said police suspect the pedestrian might have been deliberately run over. Fraser definitely thinks so. He said it was clear the driver revved his engine and sped toward him. Another witness - not one of the four people walking down the alley - told Corvallis Police Officer Gabe Sapp the truck accelerated before running Fraser down.
The truck is described as a silver pickup, possibly a Ford Ranger.
Fraser, in his last term at OSU, said he wakes up in the morning with headaches and takes a class online.
Anyone who might have any information about the incident is asked to call the Corvallis Police Department at 766-6924 and ask for Officer Sapp.