After a woman was struck in a harrowing hit-and-run rampage Monday afternoon in Portland, bystanders rushed to her side, trying to help her until medics arrived.
One of those witnesses, Dr. Jack Schunk, recalled the moments that the car tore through a block of Southeast 19th Avenue.
Schunk, a retired pediatrician, was about a block away when he heard someone screaming. He ran around the corner and saw a woman sitting on the sidewalk. As he approached her, he heard a rumble, and saw a damaged silver SUV coming toward them.
“The next thing I remember is a flash of silver and her disappearing under the front bumper,” Schunk said.
The victim, 77-year-old Jean Gerich of Portland, died from her injuries a few hours later at the hospital. Family members have remembered Gerich as a proud mother and grandmother, a lover of nature and a cancer survivor who had just gotten her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine a week prior.
Portland police identified the suspected driver Tuesday night as Paul Rivas, 64. Rivas was arraigned in a Multnomah County court Wednesday afternoon, and is facing murder and assault charges. Rivas has pleaded not guilty on all 14 counts.
Schunk described a harrowing scene as bystanders watched the SUV do a 180-degree turn toward Stark Street, with Gerich under the car. She became dislodged shortly before he turned onto Stark.
Larry Wolfe, who had an appointment to meet Gerich at 19th and Washington, said he saw Gerich get hit by a car and scream, then saw the car turn around and hit her again, making a U-turn and dragging her.
As Rivas left the area, Schunk tried to chase his SUV to get its license plate number, but was stopped by a young man who went after Rivas in his own car.
Schunk said he and other bystanders immediately went to Gerich and tried to help her. A woman brought a blanket to cover Gerich, and a man appeared with some sterile dressing to apply to a wound on Gerich’s head. Some rendered first aid and tried to keep her still until police and medics arrived a few minutes later.
“She was coherent,” Schunk said. “She told us her name. We asked her if she knew the person, and she said, ‘No.'”
He said officers asked those who had been helping to wait outside the caution tape, where they waited while medics assessed Gerich and carried her into an ambulance.
Schunk said he was impressed with the level of skill patrol officers who arrived at the scene before medics displayed as they helped care for Gerich.
Schunk said he and others who sprang to action that day are still recovering from the shock of the day, and piecing together what happened.
“We agree that what we remember is bits and pieces, like the interval between seeing the car coming down on us and seeing her disappear.”
He said those conversations have been a way to help process the trauma of what they witnessed Monday.
“Talking and sharing is good,” he said. “We’ve helped each other process this.”
