A 13-year-old boy is “fighting for his life” after someone threw a tire iron that lodged into his skull Saturday afternoon in Southeast Portland’s Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood, according to Michelle Bart, a spokesperson for the child’s family.
Jamari Woodard was flown by helicopter to OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital where he is still unconscious and on breathing tubes, Bart said.
“We don’t know if it was accidental or intentional – all we know is somehow a tire iron was shoved into (Woodard’s) head,” she said.
Portland detectives are investigating the incident, but are limited in what information they can release due to “investigative reasons,” said police spokesperson Sgt. Kevin Allen.
“Detectives understand the urgency for confirmed information,” Allen said. “I can’t release any further details until investigators are ready.”
Woodard was sitting with two other children, ages 12 and 13, in the backseat of a car driving in an apartment complex parking lot in the 12000 block of Southeast Foster Road shortly after 7 p.m. when a man approached the car. The man threw the tire iron into the moving car, which flew into the backseat and lodged into Woodard’s skull, according to Bart and Portland police.
A woman standing nearby called 911 but was put on hold, Bart said. The woman then drove Woodard to Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center in Clackamas where doctors removed the tire iron from Woodard’s head. He was then flown to Doernbecher in Southwest Portland and was admitted into the pediatric intensive care unit, Bart said.
Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to Sunnyside Medical Center and requested Portland police respond to the possible crime scene on Foster Road. Officers went to the scene and spoke to witnesses who confirmed a boy had been struck with a tire iron, according to a statement Wednesday from the Portland Police Bureau.
The recent Lane Middle School graduate has not opened his eyes and cannot yet breathe on his own, Bart said.
“At this point, all we’re hoping and praying for is that he wakes up,” said Bart, the president of the National Women’s Coalition Against Violence & Exploitation.
Woodard loves playing basketball and was excited to attend Franklin High School in the fall, Bart said. A GoFundMe for his family had raised over $13,000 by Wednesday afternoon.
Woodard’s family declined to be interviewed, through Bart.
Investigators asked anyone with information to contact Detective Brett Hawkinson at brett.hawkinson@police.portlandoregon.gov or email crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov and reference case number 23-166081.
— Catalina Gaitán, cgaitan@oregonian.com, @catalingaitan_
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