Rockne Roll/News-Register##
Crews from McMinnville Water & Light and the McMinnville Fire Department respond to the Primisys building on Northeast Baker Street in McMinnville Sunday, April 22, after a truck crashed through the front of the building.
Rockne Roll/News-Register## Crews from McMinnville Water & Light and the McMinnville Fire Department respond to the Primisys building on Northeast Baker Street in McMinnville Sunday, April 22, after a truck crashed through the front of the building.
Rockne Roll/News-Register
Mildred Reppeto embraces her husband, John Reppeto, after his truck crashed into the Primisys building on Northeast Baker Street in McMinnville Sunday afternoon.
Rockne Roll/News-Register Mildred Reppeto embraces her husband, John Reppeto, after his truck crashed into the Primisys building on Northeast Baker Street in McMinnville Sunday afternoon.
By Paul Daquilante • Staff Writer • 

Crashes damage McMinnville business, residence; one arrest made

UPDATE / Tuesday, April 24:

Chris Rowe, founder of Primisys Computer and Network Services, issued this statement regarding the status of his business:

"Our retail offices on the corner of the block at 309 N.E. Baker St. remain open for walk-in customers.  The 331 address is only used for datacenter operations and consulting office.  That location is normally locked and will see clients by appointment only.

"We are currently operating on a recently installed gas generator. It was scheduled for startup today - Tuesday - but we had to get it going ahead of schedule. We are hoping to have utility power restored sometime today."

He said the front of the building has been reinforced and the facing will be reconstructed.

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A downtown McMinnville business sustained heavy damage and a local residence, in addition to multiple vehicles, were damaged in the wake of two motor vehicle crashes Sunday afternoon.

Shortly before 4 p.m., police and medical personnel responded to an incident at 331 N.E. Baker Street, where Primisys Computers & Networks is located. 
McMinnville Police Capt. Rhonda Sandoval gave this account:

John Granville Reppeto, 81, of McMinnville, was driving a 2005 Toyota Tundra pickup in the private parking lot of Citizens Bank, 455 N.E. Baker St., just north of where the crash occurred.

The vehicle exited the parking lot in reverse and drove over a landscaped strip between the private lot and the street.
Then the vehicle continued onto the street and crossed the left lane of travel and into the right lane in reverse.

It continued in a half circular pathway, crossing the left lane of travel again and impacted the front of Primisys.

The crash caused significant structural damage to the building and rendered it unsafe for occupancy.

Reppeto received on-scene evaluation and treatment from McMinnville Fire Department medics for minor injuries.

The crash remains under investigation by officer Steve Mcartney. He may choose to submit Repetto for a Department of Motor Vehicles drivers’ retest, according to Sandoval.

She said numerous factors determine whether that action is taken. The age of the driver is never the only factor.

Due to the possibility of the building collapsing, one lane of Baker and pedestrian traffic on the west side was temporarily closed. Private contractor crews spent Sunday night trying to mitigate the collapse hazard.

McMinnville police expressed thanks to the McMinnville Fire Department, McMinnville Building Department, McMinnville Public Works, McMinnville Water and Light, Oregon Department of Transportation, Primisys employees and private contractors for their joint response to the incident.

While Primisys is closed to walk-in customers, Sandoval said the business servers are operating.

“Power was cut to the building last night, but from what I understand, the city loaned them some generators, so they could keep their servers up and running,” she said.

Shortly before 1 p.m., medical personnel and police responded to the first incident at 753 N.E. Eighth St.

Sandoval gave this account:

Richard Alexander Hernandez, 36, of McMinnville, was driving a 1986 Ford F250 pickup eastbound on Eighth.

Richard Hernandez

He lost control and the vehicle veered south and into the driveway of an Eighth Street residence where it struck two vehicles located in the driveway. The vehicle continued into the garage and struck a third.

Three victims were located in the immediate area of the crash and a fourth was exiting the front of the residence when the collision occurred.
One of the victims received on-scene evaluation and care from medics. Hernandez was not injured.

However, he was charged with one count each of driving under the influence of intoxicants and reckless driving, in addition to three counts of recklessly endangering another person. All charges are felonies. The ongoing investigation may result in additional citations.
He was booked into the Yamhill County Jail on $31,550 bail, but no longer is in custody. 

His blood alcohol content (BAC) was .22. The presumptive level of intoxication in Oregon is .08.

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