Police: Drunk driver crashes through SE Portland home
PORTLAND, Ore. – A drunk driver crashed his SUV through a home in Southeast Portland Friday night, police said.
Homeowner Greg Buckland told KATU that he was home during the crash, and the impact threw him against a wall. He said his injuries are minor and he may need surgery on his arm, but he's otherwise OK.
Buckland said one first responder was shocked he was alive.
"He couldn't believe I was alive, he came in and thought they were going to find a body. He was looking for a body." Buckland said.
"I feel very blessed and very fortunate tonight," he said. "It easily could have turned out something different. And he should feel fortunate too, because six inches, he'd be facing manslaughter."
It happened at around 11 p.m. at 6020 SE Flavel Drive.
Sgt. Pete Simpson said police arrested the driver, 28-year-old James Kelly Anderson, after he left the scene. He was driving 90 mph on Southeast 60th Avenue when he crashed into the home, Simpson said.
Buckland said he's not sure about the extent of the damage. His insurance company will take a look at his house on Monday. Work crews were at his house all day Saturday boarding things up.
Anderson faces charges of DUII, reckless driving, failure to perform duties of a driver and criminal mischief.
KATU's Lincoln Graves contributed to this story.
KATU heard about this story from a KATU news tip. If news happens where you live, send an email to newstips@katu.com
Holy smokes. That is some serious damage. If I didn't read the article and just saw the picture I would say that it was some sort of explosion.
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Very lucky guy. Glad he is alive to deal with his insurance company.
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My guess is that the house is totaled.
It's not Mr. Anderson's fault; he has a make-believe "DISEASE", created out of thin air, that he's ABSOLUTELY POWERLESS over....and affirmed by the US Court & Medical systems.
Why didn't the 12-Step religious AA/NA cult's "HIGHER POWER" stop this from happening?
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A REAL "HIGHER POWER" would work 100% of the time!
I never saw "Hit and Run" as part of the charges...pretty sure they could find a few more also!
90 MPH and airborne before he hit the house. This guy WANTED to die and take someone with him. Now he is out on his own recognisis just so he can get another chance at it. He is a menace to our society. If he spends no time in jail, he ought to be ran out of town.
wow
Booze is legal and pot isn't.
Ever hear of a driver under the influence of MJ doing similar?
We live in The United States of Hypocrisy.
 @MipsferÂ
Yes I have. In fact I have seen those under the influence of marijuana kill people with their vehicles. I have seen people stoned on OTC meds and prescription meds kill people.
Too bad this drunk did not die in the wreck. Â Bet this is not his first DUI arrest.
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People worry about GUN control, show me any gun that can cause this much damage to a dwelling. Â This vehicle and a drunk is a fatal.combination just as dangerous as a gun.
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Are you reading this you prissy judges and money hungry bottom feeder attorneys who give a drunk a slap on the hand.
Wow, 60th and Flavel...it's not called Felony Flats for no reason.
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Another goateed tough guy. I'd throw in assault with a deadly weapon since he was drunk.
He looks like he's just so distraught over his actions. Considering what he did and that shaved head, his nickname should be "Dimbulb".
Infruriating recklessness. There should be DOUBLE the sentencing discretion issued to the judge assigned to this case. Or triple.Â
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He coulda killed sooooo many people. He sure tried. But what does 28 year old ADULT, James Anderson, care.Â
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I agree but the judges ARE the problem along with the bottom feeder attorneys.Â
Giving a drunk person a car to drive is no different then giving a crazy person a gun except the drunk drivers do it almost  every day and yea they kill a lot of kids too.I lost my father to booze and my best friend at young age of 28 and lost at least 12 friends to drunk drivers but not a SINGLE person  or friends or family to guns.Mayor stop the insanity of drunk drivers by making the BAR OWNERS PAY who let them drink at there place or fine them tons of money.
 @riderofthelegend I agree and the problem will not go away as long as we have idiot judges and money hungry bottom feeders.
Stupidity = at his finest!Â
Again... poster child for surgically removing arms and legs of all convicted of multiple DUIs
I sure hope the tavern that served him gets the bill for this.
@katufanman ......great point.
typical drunk bald white guy !
@sargerator ....typical???
 @sargerator Hey I'm bald white and sometimes drunk, but i don't drink an drive...
That guy just looks like such an ass.
Another bald-a-s-s loser. Oh, sorry. With the pubes around his mouth it looks like an a-s-s.
 @iamtroglodite@yahoo.com You're such a cute pube-aphobic!
and not a scratch on him. guess liquid courage does make people invincible. all the coat hangers must have absorbed the impact
 @Phuzz Actually, if you go to 'street-level' in the map you'll see it was a chain-link fence that absorbed most of the impact. Ironically, the boulders lining the roadway designed to keep out idiots like him, wasn't long enough...judging from the angle he came into the house, it looks like he went to the right of the boulders and through the fence.
 @str1ngb3nd3r  @Phuzz KGW says he went through the house (two bedrooms, the living room and a dining room were damaged) so he didn't just clip a fence or tear through a fence -- he virtually leveled the house.  I wonder if it is even structurally sound to remain inside at this point.
When they said "through", they meant it.
 @al_02 Thoroughly through, even!
When are we going to get serious about this? If we can save the life of just one child . . .
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We need to ban cars now!!
 @Conspirator cars are just as lethal as guns especially combined with a drunk.
There really should be laws to prevent this kind of stuff.
 @Conspirator it's not cars we need to band it's stupidity.
@32jim2 @Conspirator Ban stupid people who make stupid comments, starting with "Conspirator"
This didn't actually happen. They don't even try with these conspiracies anymore.
That is nuts! If you look at the map, it looks like he was probably going down 60th, didn't make the turn onto Flavel and plowed through to the backyard. That homeowner is one lucky man!
 @medborgare I was thinking he was driving on Flavel towards 60th and did at least one 360 in the back yard.  I wonder what all of the "stuff" is -- I see clothes (at least distinctly a hanger), patio furniture, building materials, etc.  Did he actually plow through the house or hit an outside storage structure?  Story looks like it needs more information and more photos to understand what happened.  No matter what, I feel sorry for the property owners (or renters if the home was rented).  I'm sure the idiot driving had no insurance and won't be able to pay any type of restitution.
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@CTWU @medborgare Can you imagine? 11:00 pm, you are done with the day, sitting on your couch or laying in bed watchjng tv drinking your fav. beer, probably half asleep, and BAM! "Damnit! I spilled my beer!" I think I would pis-s myself or something. Poor guy. They should leave dumba-s-s in cuffs and let Greg have a bat; 5 minutes in a locked room should do.
 @CTWU  @iamtroglodite@yahoo.com  @medborgare Not only did this driver crash through the house, and do a hit-n-run...but KGW 8 reports the driver got out of the car in the wrecked house and THREATENED TO FIGHT with the recovering-from-shoulder-surgery-and-now-re-injured-in-the-same-place homeowner who he had just struck with the vehicle as he crashed through the house!! I think the homeowner should gather a whole crew of friends and have them take this loser up on the fight offer asap...esp. since he is apparently already released from jail and available for a major beat-down.
 @iamtroglodite@yahoo.com  @jpk Well he'll have to find a new car to drive first. ;)
@jpk Well, just heard on the news a-s-s face has already been released. Wonder if he will show for court?
Property vandalism is already included in his charges, It's called criminal mischief.
@CTWU @washcomom @medborgare How can you tell? Never be able to find anything in that mess.
 @washcomom  @iamtroglodite@yahoo.com  @medborgare Well, at least the driver took off before he had a chance to take/steal/demand or whatever Mr. Buckland's prescriptions!
 @CTWU  @iamtroglodite@yahoo.com  @medborgare I just read that! I'm surprised that these important details weren't mentioned in this article. I mean - c'mon! Mr. Buckland just had surgery a week before, and gets his house obliterated by a ding-bat DUII driver?? Â
Maybe property vandalism should also be assessed to the driver?
 @CTWU THANKS! Different details / perspective there. Makes more sense to me now.
@CTWU @medborgare Ok, now I feel like a piece of crap. Poor guy already in pain, and then this.I guess I need to change news sites so I can get more info on the stories.
Greg if you read this, I am sorry; also I would be more than happy to swing the bat for you.
 @iamtroglodite@yahoo.com  @CTWU  @medborgare Actually, its worse.  Poor guy living in the house was recovering from surgery he'd had a week earlier!  Really lucky guy!  KGW has a much better story and, medborgare was right (seems like the guy was coming down 60th).
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http://www.kgw.com/news/Speeding-DUII-driver-blasts-through-house-narrowly-missing-man-inside-187595251.html