HERMISTON — Around a week after a driver attacked Brandon Artz in a head-on crash he said he felt shaken, still.
“This was a very traumatic experience,” Artz said.
Artz is the Parks and Recreation director for the city of Hermiston. The encounter, he said, did not sour him on public service.
Nov. 14, a vehicle crashed into Artz’s car while he was in it. This happened in the area of West Orchard Avenue and Southwest Second Street. When Artz got out of his vehicle, the driver attempted to hit him a second time.
Later that night, at 9:24 p.m., Hermiston police arrested Daniel Henry Wilson for felony hit-and-run, third-degree assault, reckless endangering and first-degree criminal mischief.
Recounting the night
“It happened as I was coming back from city council,” he said, recalling the attack eight days later.
After leaving the meeting, he drove to McKenzie Park in Hermiston to check on it. According to the parks director, camps have popped up under that park’s shelter.
“I typically drive by and check out the park, put eyes on the park, to see it and make sure things are OK,” he said. “In the previous week or two, we’ve had garbage cans set on fire and other destruction in the park.”
Around 8:30 p.m., he said, he was driving down Orchard Avenue, near the park, when he saw a vehicle pull into the parking lot of The Arc of Umatilla County. He said he continued toward the Bi-Mart parking lot nearby, when he saw the vehicle again.
A GMC pickup, the vehicle he saw at The Arc, flashed its bright lights, pulled forward, accelerated and hit Artz’s vehicle head-on.
“After I bailed out, I didn’t know what was going on,” he said.
Artz said he left his vehicle because he didn’t know if his attacker had a weapon. His thought was to escape, and he figured his best chance was to leave his pickup.
“Fortunately, a witness was driving by, and she saw the whole thing,” Artz said. “She got on the phone with 911.”
Artz said the witness told him to get in her car, but he thought better of it.
“I told her no, no, no,” he said.
He said he wanted her to leave right away, for her own safety.
Meanwhile, the attacker went to people at the park and started giving them high-fives, Artz said. Then, he returned to his pickup, backed into the street and drove toward the food pod.
“Then, at that time, he came back,” Artz said.
The attacker parked across the street from Artz, then left.
The witness, who had been trying to help Artz, started tailing the assailant, according to Artz. As she followed him, he brake-checked her a couple of times, then threw his pickup in reverse three or four times to hit her, Artz said.
The pickup driver pulled into the Bi-Mart parking lot, he said.
“He was coming toward my rig at a high rate of speed,” Artz said. “I was standing in front of my truck, on the phone with 911. I saw that he was going to finish off the truck and slam into it again, so I stepped away from the truck. He slammed on his brakes, then accelerated and tried to hit me as I was outside my vehicle.”
Artz got out of the way before he could be hit.
The pickup took off, but the witness continued the chase until the police caught up with them, Artz said.
Attack leaves Artz perplexed
Artz said he has neck and back pain from the attack, but he refused transport to the hospital.
“I wasn’t feeling too bad,” he said.
He said he thinks a trip to his chiropractor will be enough to bring him some relief.
As for the attack, he said he feels confused by it. The attacker wasn’t someone he knew, he said, though he added he had probably seen him before in the area.
He said he has tried to make sense of it.
“Apparently, there had been some other people who have checked out the camp (at the park) at night,” Artz said. “And he took it upon himself to attack the next person who did that same thing.”
Still, Artz said he feels lucky, as the driver hit him when he was in a pickup, not a small car. The parks director stated, too, that he was glad that he was hit, not some other person.
“I feel fortunate that I took the brunt of it, and not one of our citizens who could’ve been in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said.
He said he is worried for other people, and he has received “several calls” from locals about the camps being set up in the park.
“I want to remind people to stay vigilant,” he said. “Stay vigilant and stay safe.”
He added he takes his job “personally and seriously.”
“My family is in this town, and I want to make this town a great place for everybody,” he said. “I’m the overseer of the parks, and I want to make sure they are safe. That’s my job and what I’m committed to.
Artz stated he intends to continue his work, despite the attack.
“I’ll just be a little more careful as I go about this business,” he said.
Hermiston police respond
Hermiston Police Chief Jason Edmiston called the attack “unfortunate,” adding Artz was not at the park harassing people.
“We are experiencing more activity in our parks system and much of it is directly linked to transients,” Edmiston said. “But, in the grand scheme of criminal activity in our community, activity in the park system is a minor part.”
Edmiston estimated crimes in the park accounted for “somewhere less than 1% of all crimes.” Still, he said, members of his department do talk about it, including park activity in their internal daily shift logs, which are discussed at shift briefings.
He added his officers are active in the policing of the parks.
“We would never suggest or imply that bad things don’t happen sometimes very quickly,” he said. “As such, we encourage people to be aware of their surroundings, have a phone if possible, partner up with someone else.”
