Jeep strikes pedestrian, then crashes into Northeast Portland mattress store.

Date: 08/10/2011
Time: Afternoon
Location: Portland, Oregon
Vehicle(s) Involved: Jeep Grand Cherokee

By Helen Jung, The Oregonian   

"Jason Jancosek was crossing NE Sandy Boulevard Wednesday afternoon at a green light when he noticed a Jeep Grand Cherokee turning onto Sandy and heading towards him.

Directly towards him.

Jancosek yelled out as the vehicle came closer, said the 32-year-old Northeast Portland resident.

But instead of hitting the brakes, the driver must have hit the gas, he said. Jancosek jumped forward as the vehicle's front driver-side corner hit his hand, which was extended "Heisman-trophy" style, he said. The impact scraped the skin off part of his palm.

The SUV swerved, police said, then crashed into a bus stop and through the floor-to-ceiling window of a mattress store at NE 24th and NE Sandy where it struck a wall and demolished several mattresses inside.

"I keep replaying it in my head," said Jancosek. "If I even hesitated, I would have been smacked straight on."

Four employees -- the husband-and-wife owners and two others -- were towards the back of The Mattress Lot store, said owner Michael Hanna, when they heard "a loud noise, almost like an explosion. And this car came racing through the entire store."

No one was injured, he said, although damages will total in the "thousands and thousands of dollars," he said.

Police cited the driver, 66-year-old Carolyn George, for failing to stop and remain stopped for a pedestrian.

Jancosek, who declined medical assistance, treated his hand at home and said he expects he'll be hurting tomorrow. A couple hours later, he was still trying to absorb what happened. "I'm a big guy," he said. "I'm not sure how she didn't see me."

-- Helen Jung"

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