I’m typing this on my phone while standing at the corner of Southeast Division and 52nd, where a man died while bicycling Monday night. It happened around 8:30 pm at the southwest corner of the intersection. The man, who I’ve identified as Mike Sloan, appears to have been riding eastbound prior to the crash. Witnesses tell BikePortland he hit a pothole. “We were driving and used our car to block off the road when the two witnesses who watched him fall off the bike flagged us down,” one reader has shared with me today. “At least one accounted that they witnessed him hit the pothole.”
Below is the statement I just received from the Portland Police Bureau:
At approximately 8:30 p.m. Monday, officers responded to the area of Southeast Division Street and Southeast 52nd Avenue. When they arrived, they located an adult male cyclist deceased. Officers spoke to numerous witnesses who stated they saw the cyclist lose balance/control and go over the handlebars. The witnesses stated that no vehicles were involved. Officers canvassed the area for cameras and did not locate any. They did find a pothole and believe this could have been the cause of the incident.
Soon after the incident, I received several photos and messages from the scene. I rode over this morning to take a closer look. There’s a pothole just inches from where the victim’s body came to rest. Gravel from the approximately one-foot square pothole is sprayed all around and its edges are sharp. In photos shared by readers, I could see Sloan’s bicycle, a Trek road bike, propped up against a fire extinguisher…