APPY VALLEY, Ore. – A construction worker who was hit by a suspected drunk driver Tuesday afternoon in Happy Valley has a message for all drivers.
“I do want to say please slow down, pay attention,” said Preston Stucky. “Just please be careful. Don’t drink and drive.”
Stucky was part of a crew working a construction zone near Southeast 122nd Avenue and Yoakum Lane when he and two others were hit by a car driven by 51-year-old Fedsot Tsopko, of Portland
“We were just prepping then we heard one of the flaggers yell ‘stop, stop, stop!’ By the time we looked back the car already hit the flagger,” Stucky said.
The flagger, 62-year-old William Griffin, of Happy Valley, was still in the hospital recovering from non-life-threatening injuries as of Wednesday afternoon.
However, 48-year-old Pablo Dominguez-Amezcua, of Portland, was killed. Following the crash, ribbons were tied to the fence of D M Excavating, the company Dominguez-Amezcua worked for, to honor the man who Preston remembered as a great worker.
“He was a good guy, great worker, always had a smile when he showed up to work,” Stucky said. “He was always ready to be there, he was ahead of the plan. I was trying to keep up with him. Really good guy, I’m really sad to lose him.”
As for Stucky, he was back at his home in Cornelius after being released from the hospital.
“I’m just really sore right now,” he said. “I’m starting to really feel it. It’s hitting me right now.”
He plans to return to work as soon as he’s healthy enough to do so. And he has a message for distracted drivers.
“I just want people to know you need to slow down. We’re regular people, too. We go to work, we come home, we have families, too. Pablo has a family, too.”
http://www.kgw.com/news/local/please-slow-down-construction-worker-pleads-after-fatal-happy-valley-crash/442801161
