Grants Pass, Ore. — One Grants Pass gas station attendant said she pumped the suspect in Thursday mornings fatal crash on I-5 before realizing he shouldn’t be driving at all.
Jennifer McCulloch, an employee at Arco on Terry Lane in Grants Pass, saida mand she believes was Richard Scott pulled up to the gas station around 2:30 Thursday morning. She said he seemed intoxicated and was stumbling and slurring his words.
“He was slurring so bad I couldn’t even understand what he was saying,” McCulloch said. “He was falling over. I don’t know how he was functioning.”
She said she called police and was on the phone with dispatch for about 3 and a half minutes. She said police arrived minutes later, but it was too late. Scott was gone.
“He honked his horn three times, flashed hit lights, hit a curb, then took off for the freeway,” McCulloch said.
Now, she’s filled with regret.
“Looking back on it I still would have wanted to do something to keep him there longer,” she said.
Grants Pass Department of Public Safety confirmed they did receive McCulloch’s call and missed the suspect by just a couple of minutes.
Just an hour later Oregon State Police said Scott was driving the wrong way on Interstate 5 south of Phoenix when he crashed head on with Ashland woman Karen Greenstein. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
OSP Troopers said they believe Scott may have been intoxicated. That doesn’t surprise McCulloch.
“Maybe I could have saved her life,” she said.
Now she’s wondering if she could have done more.
“I do want to send my heart and apologies to the Greenstein family and let them know they’re in my thoughts and prayers,” she said.
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