Portland records 4th Christmas Day traffic fatality

A fourth person has died as a result of , police said Saturday. Stewart Poitra, 73, of Portland died Jan. 2 after being hit by the driver of a 2015 Kia Forte on Southeast 122nd Avenue and Ash Street around 5 p.m. on Dec. 25, police said. Police said in a news release that Poitra “ran out into the roadway without warning” and that the driver of the Kia tried to stop but couldn’t, stayed at the scene and cooperated with police.

Police have not cited the unidentified driver. Christmas 2023 was a particularly deadly day in a . Among the victims: A Portland police officer found an injured at 12:19 a.m on Dec. 25. The pedestrian later died at a hospital. At 1 p.m., a driver died after a , near Taylors Ferry Road. Then, also at 5 p.m., an additional crash on Southeast 122nd Avenue near Powell Boulevard killed a motorist, police said.

Two additional crashes just before and after Christmas brought the death toll for the period to six — one driver, two passengers, two pedestrians and a bicyclist, police said. Three of those deaths happened on , which is . Overall, 75 people died in traffic crashes in Portland in 2023, the highest number since 1986 when 79 people died, police said.

— Beth Slovic, , 503 221 8551.