The victim of a March 11 hit-and-run in Hermiston has died, according to Hermiston police.
Jennifer Whelan, 43, was on life support, but her family made the decision to end those measures Thursday, March 16, the same day a Umatilla County grand jury indicted Anthony Solis Lemus, 25, of Hermiston, on charges of driving under the influence of intoxicants, reckless driving and counts for felony assault on Whelan.
Hermiston police reported the case started at 2:37 a.m. March 11, when officers received a report that a vehicle may have struck a person at West Orchard Avenue and South First Street, leaving her in the road.
Officers found Whelan, a transient, in the road. She was unconscious but breathing, and an ambulance rushed her to Good Shepherd Medical Center, Hermiston. She suffered a skull fracture, and other injuries, according to Hermiston police, and an aircraft ambulance flew her to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, Portland.
While police were at the scene on West Orchard and South First, an employee of NAPA Auto Parts walked over and said he heard something and came outside the building and saw a white 2007 Honda Civic with the Oregon license plate of 615KMJ pull into the parking lot and park. Hermiston police reported plastic at the scene of the crash matched a missing piece on the Honda.
Police contacted Lemus, who was passed out in the driver’s seat of the Honda, and arrested him for hit-and-run and DUII and took him to the Hermiston Police Department. He consented to sobriety tests and provided a breath sample. Police reported the sample showed Lemus had a blood-alcohol content of .25%, more then three times the .08% legal limit.
Police also obtained a warrant for a sample of Lemus’ blood and took him to Good Shepherd before booking him into the Umatilla County Jail, Pendleton.
Hermiston police Detective Riley Studebaker drove to Pendleton the afternoon of March 16 to update the court proceeding regarding Lemus, but it already had been scheduled. However, according to Hermiston police, the Umatilla County District Attorney’s Office will be upgrading the charges against Lemus.
