A Vancouver man was identified Saturday as the victim of a fatal crash along Interstate 5 in Portland.
Keith O. Poppert, 61, died in the Thursday evening crash, which was blamed on wet roads and soaking rain.
The accident occurred at 7:51 p.m. in the northbound lanes of the freeway just north of the Fremont Bridge. Portland police said Poppert was driving a Ford pickup north on Interstate 405, merging onto I-5 north. His truck hit a pool of water measuring up to 4 inches deep.
The pickup swerved to the right, hit the outside jersey barrier, then slid toward the center lane of I-5 northbound. The pick-up was hit, broadside, by a Kenworth tractor-trailer, and briefly pushed north along the freeway.
The Kenworth’s driver stopped as soon as he could, police said, but Poppert died at the scene.
It was Portland’s 58th traffic fatality of 2021 and the third fatal crash in the past seven days.
