SUV rams TD Safeway Quickie Mart, Vehicle at gas station

Cameron Sweatt, 21, a form Dufur and TDHS football player, described events leading up to a Toyota driving into the snack store at The Dalles Safeway fueling station.

By Tom Peterson

Twenty-one-year-old Cameron Sweatt said it was a busy but otherwise normal day at the Safeway Fueling station on March 31. 

It was until 4 p.m., anyway, when the driver of a Toyota SUV pulled up and asked Sweatt to fill the tank.

The vehicle was being driven by Loren Dean Halter, according to The Dalles Police log.

Sweatt said he asked the gentleman to pull forward to the pump, and the gentleman gave him a credit card to get the nozzle going. 

“He mumbled “chips” under his breath,” Sweatt said this morning, April 1. “It was like he wanted a bag of chips.” 

The man then made a guttural noise and hit the accelerator. 

The dark green 2003 Toyota Highlander sped off and hit the red barrier post to the right of the entry door of the snack store at the station and came to a stop. 

Sweatt said the Toyota then went into reverse and the driver gunned the gas peddle again. The Toyota shot backward hitting a 2011 Ford fueling at station 9.

Sweatt jumped out of the way as he was “pretty f#@kin’ scared. It definitely got my adrenaline going.”

After ramming the car, the green Toyota then sped forward, this time missing the red barrier post. It rashed through the front of the snack store, stopping only having halfway entered the building via bumper and grill. 

Pictures of the crash were spread on Facebook, and Sweatt said he asked generally if the man was alright as people commented on the situation.

Sweatt said he received an instant message, noting the gentleman was still alive but had suffered a stroke. But he was unsure of the validity of the comment.

Sweatt said no one at the fueling station other than the man driving the Toyota was hurt.

Witnesses to the crash said they saw Halter’s tires spinning, then the Toyota hitting the store.

Loren Halter “advised his foot got stuck on the accelerator, causing him to run into the store,” according to the police log.