So, how do Nike's U&L Homies celebrate such an occasion?
By looting an overturned truck carrying Swooshies.
Classic.
A collision involving two tractor-trailer rigs, one of which had been stopped because of Wednesday's fire along Interstate 84 in the Columbia Gorge, killed one person and injured two others.
It also led several people to apparently attempt to steal some of the load of Nike athletic shoes being carried by one of the trucks.
As of this morning, Oregon State Police had not released the name of the man killed because they had still not been able to notify his next of kin.
And while troopers at the scene did not report arresting any people caught trying to take shoes, OSP did point out that people trying to do so disrupted the investigation into the crash, the man's death and made everything harder for the officers and the emergency responders. In addition, taking the shoes is illegal, said Lt. Gregg Hastings of the OSP.
"It interferes with the attention that they have to direct toward people who may have been injured," said Hastings this morning. "That was an unfortunate development that really disheartened the officers and the other emergency responders on the scene."
According to a news release from OSP, the collision happened about 7:10 p.m. near milepost 62 near Hood River when an International tractor-trailer rig pulling the load of shoes failed to stop as it approached a Volvo tractor-trailer that had pulled to the side of the road during the freeway closure caused by the fire, which was burning on the west edge of The Dalles.
The International, driven by Robert Loeh, 49, of Illinois, swerved to the right to try to miss the Volvo, but the left side of the International struck the Volvo's trailer. The impact not only split open the trailer carrying the shoes, but also led to a man who was in the truck's sleeper berth being thrown from the truck.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Loeh received non-life threatening injuries while the driver of the Volvo truck, Armin Ghorbanpoor, 21, of British Columbia, received minor injuries. Both were treated at Hood River Memorial Hospital and both had been using safety restraints.
Oregon State Police troopers from The Dalles Area Command office are continuing the investigation. One lane of the freeway was still closed earlier this morning as ODOT personnel cleaned up the area and removed the vehicles.
