A 55-year-old Yachats man is in the Lincoln County jail with bail of $750,000 on 11 charges related to a road rage incident Oct. 7 that badly injured three motorcyclists on U.S. Highway 101 just north of Yachats.
Dane L. Day of Yachats was booked into jail Monday, following an 18-day investigation by Oregon State Police Trooper Scott Severson. Day is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Tuesday.
Day is charged with three counts of second-degree assault, three counts of recklessly endangering, reckless driving, menacing, and failing to perform the duties of a driver involving injuries.
In a probable cause affidavit filed in Lincoln County Circuit Court, Severson said Larry Scott, 43, and Forrest Baker, 26, of Waldport, were riding their motorcycles north through Yachats about 6:30 p.m. Oct. 7 when a witness saw a pickup truck “right on the motorcyclists’ tires.”
Another witness told Severson the motorcycles were traveling 80-100 mph with Baker’s motorcycle overtaking the pickup truck.
In his affidavit, Severson said evidence at the crash scene indicated the motorcycles were northbound in the southbound lane when they were hit or collided with another vehicle.
Baker’s injuries included a broken ankle, cracked tooth, a torn groin and back and shoulder injuries. His passenger, Markie Guidry, suffered a damaged kidney, two broken vertebrae and has abdominal pain. Scott had a broken ankle, punctured lung and broken ribs.
In his affidavit, Severson said Baker told him they were driving through Yachats when Scott alerted him to a truck tailgating them. “Baker told me the driver of the vehicle was pointing at them and Baker thought maybe the driver had an issue with Larry Scott …”
Baker told Severson that after tailgating them, the vehicle got to their left side and tried to force them onto the right shoulder of the highway.
“Baker told me that he and Scott were able to get around to the left and that is when the bikes collided,” Severson said in his affidavit.
Guidry told Severson they were driving the speed limit, that the truck struck them from behind, and the two motorcycles collided before crashing.
Severson was able to identify Day as the suspect from a description by Guidry, a video of the truck at the Shell gas station in Waldport, and after Baker found a truck at an address on Perch Street just north of Yachats that matched the gas station video.
Severson and two sheriff’s deputies went to the Perch Street home on Oct. 13 to arrest Day, but his aunt said he had left four days earlier without saying where he was going.
Severson said on Oct. 15 he talked with Noel Evans, 42, who said she talked with Day the day after the crash. According to the affidavit, Noel said Day tried to “shoo” Baker’s motorcycle off the road near Dollar General so he could speak to Scott.
“Noel told me Larry did a wheelie and kept going,” Severson said in the affidavit. “Then Forrest passed Dane. Noel told me Larry attempted to turn west onto Perch Street and that’s when the collision occurred.”
Severson’s affidavit said that Noel Evans and Larry Scott had been living together until March but that Evans “didn’t know of any issues between Dane and Larry.”
A pre-trial release report recommended that Day be kept in jail because of 56 previous arrests and 10 charges of failing to appear in court. Day’s criminal history in Oregon dates back to 1987, ranging from possession of methamphetamine, being a felon in possession of a firearm, numerous driving violations, and theft.
Ridiculous. The man has 56 arrests and was out on the streets? Why does Oregon’s judicial system allow criminals to run the streets until they actually kill someone? He should also be charged with attempted murder.