Police report few problems with rally

John Horwarth, left, and Bill Wells stand beside John's 2000 Heritage during the Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally Saturday evening in downtown Baker City.

By ED MERRIMAN

Baker City Herald

Motorcycles lined the streets of Baker City this weekend, but with more than 5,000 riders in town for the Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally, police reported just two rally-related arrests.

Police Chief Wyn Lohner said both those arrests happened Saturday night and were related to the same incident.

It started when an intoxicated rider tried to move his motorcycle from a lineup of motorcycles in the 1900 block of Main Street and in the process crashed into three other motorcycles.

The rider, George Edward Twardus, 49, of Portland, was arrested for drunken driving, Lohner said.

He said the group of Portland-area riders with Twardus were acting out and expressing their freedom of speech with comments and actions that bordered on disturbing the peace.

As police were investigating the incident, a Baker City man who had made friends with the Portland riders, 19-year-old Derrick Erickson, 2970 Walnut St. No. 303, was arrested for unlawful use of a motorcycle and tampering with evidence when he rode away on Twardus’ motorcycle, Lohner said.

He said making an arrest and preserving evidence in a crowd of several thousand people required some focus and concentration by the arresting officers, and that’s when Erickson attempted “to sneak off with the motorcycle.”

Other than that small group, Lohner said other rally participants were helpful and supportive of the arrests.

One rally participant videotaped the incident and is providing police with a copy of the video for evidence, Lohner said.

 One motorcycle rider was hurt in an accident that happened in Baker City. The rider was taken to the hospital but did not appear to sustain life threatening injuries, Lohner said.

Other than those incidents, Lohner said a few local residents were arrested over the weekend for fighting outside a bar, but that was just part of what Lohner called a typical Saturday night in Baker City, and had nothing to do with the motorcycle rally.

“We had no fights involving rally participants,” he said.

“We had probably in excess of 5,000 people here for three days, and we had very few incidents with them. Very good behavior for the most part,” Lohner said.

Widespread thunderstorms and heavy rain that alternated with sunshine throughout the weekend contributed to several motorcycle crashes around Baker County, Baker City Fire Chief Jim Price said.

“We had 24 calls this weekend. Thirteen were related to the rally, including eight motorcycle crashes,” Price said.

“I don’t know of any fatalities, but I know a couple people were flown out,” Price said. “Four were flown out, either by helicopter or plane, once we got them to the emergency room.”

“I would say it was comparable to a couple years ago. It was worse than last year,” Price said. “It really seems to be weather related.

“It’s well known that when it’s been dry for a while and when it rains the oil comes to the surface of the road” making slick driving conditions, Price said.

Three-quarters of an inch of rain fell during the weekend at the Baker City Municipal Airport, but localized thunderstorms dumped more than an inch of rain, as well as hail, in places.

Price said the mix of sunshine and intermittent downpours also caused hazardous driving conditions for motorcycles, as riders traveled safely on dry pavement only to ride into a downpour that caught them by surprise and created dangerous puddles.

“Weather definitely played a factor,” Price said.

In addition to the eight accidents that the Baker City Fire Department responded to, Price said a couple of motorcycle accidents were reported in the Halfway and Richland areas near Hells Canyon, including one serious accident out of Richland where the rider was flown to a hospital.