Family shares spirit of father, daughter who died in highway crash

By Sarah Hurwitz

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    TILLAMOOK COUNTY, Oregon (KPTV) — After three deadly crashes in a week along Highway 6, the community is bringing attention to the dangers of that stretch of road heading to the coast.

One of those crashes happened Saturday just after 1 p.m. near milepost 30.

Police say a pickup traveling eastbound crossed into the westbound lane and hit another pickup driven by Jason Pierce, with his wife and two kids inside the car.

Pierce’ brother-in-law Kenny Baldwin says the couple’s 8-year-old daughter Emma died in the crash as well.

Baldwin says two other passengers, Pierce’ wife Kathryn and their son were transported to Portland area hospitals with serious injuries.

“We are a small family and it’s hard to lose two very special people in it,” Baldwin said. “It’s a pain that you don’t even know how to feel.”

Baldwin says his sister and nephew are in the hospital in critical condition. He believes the family was on their way to the coast. He wants the world to know about his sweet 8-year-old niece.

“She would just call me up randomly to talk to me about how she was going to change the world,” Baldwin said.

Baldwin says Pierce was a dedicated father and family man. Pierce’ boss also says they were really close. It was more than just an employer employee relationship, Pierce was a friend.

“When he started with me he knew nothing about the business but he learned everything, just what a tragedy to lose someone at such a young age,” Aladdin Heating & Air Conditioning Owner, Ernie Khal said.

Ernie and his daughter Nicole say Pierce worked for their family business.

“Just he became such a pivotal part of the family business,” Nicole Khal said. “He was dad’s right-hand man.”

A Gofundme page is now set up to help the family. The stretch of highway is known for being dangerous, so much so there’s a Facebook page dedicated to safety concerns on Highway 6.

Oregon State Police say the problems start because the only thing separating traffic is a painted yellow line.

Driving impaired or distracted, speeding, passing illegally and crossing the center line police say often results in a serious or deadly crash.

FOX 12 spoke with Kelly Walker, a Portland resident who says she travels Highway 6 regularly to visit the coast.

She shared her concerns about safety.

“It’s very curvy, and blind curves are crazy and I myself personally won’t go into a blind curve going more than 55.” Walker said.

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