Lawsuit Claims Pedestrian Death in Tumalo is Deschutes County’s Fault

A sunset reunion of two high school sweethearts was cut short last December in Tumalo in a pedestrian-driver crash, according to a wrongful death lawsuit.

Filed in Deschutes County Circuit Court on Oct. 2, the lawsuit asserts that Deschutes County is to blame for letting the markings of a busy crosswalk across Cook Avenue in Tumalo fade into disrepair, and for neglecting to install streetlamps along a stretch of road with heavy foot traffic, both which contributed to the death of Jerry Wright.

Wright, 80, died a week after a Bend driver struck him in the crosswalk on the evening of Dec. 16, 2025.

The Estate of Jerry Wright is seeking $2.35 million, according to the lawsuit.

Vicki Wright, a Tumalo resident and also 80, is battling terminal cancer. She gave a deposition at her home on Sept. 9, detailing her recollection of the collision, and her husband’s pain and suffering immediately after and during his last days.

Vicki and Jerry Wright, estranged high school sweethearts who reunited in their 70s, pictured at their wedding in 2024. Credit: Vicki and Jerry Wright

A test of discretionary immunity

Attorney Robin DesCamp told the Source that under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t have filed a lawsuit like this because governments such as Deschutes County enjoy what’s called discretionary immunity. It’s a state law that, since 1967, grants immunity to every public body from liability for any claim for injury or death of any person that results from an act or omission of government officials, employees or bodies. This would be a stillborn lawsuit, quickly dismissed in court, DesCamp says, except for her certainty that Deschutes County isn’t able to demonstrate, as required by law, proof of that discretionary immunity.

In this instance, Deschutes County would have to show, with budgetary evidence, that improving the crosswalk’s markings — and lighting it by streetlamps, for that matter — was simply too expensive.

DesCamp filed the lawsuit on Oct. 2.

“I think it’s important for people to understand that, usually, you cannot sue a government for a decision they made,” DesCamp told the Source. “At some point they decided they didn’t need to put in street lighting on Cook Avenue — there’s always public records. Even if it’s the worst decision in the world, if you sue, your case will be thrown out.”

Reached by email, John Laherty, the Deschutes County senior assistant legal counsel, said, as a rule, the County doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

“I can tell you that Deschutes County doesn’t believe the case has merit,” Laherty said. “And the County intends to fully defend itself.”

Almost home

On the evening of Dec. 16, when Vicki and Jerry Wright arrived in Tumalo, finishing up an 8-hour road trip from their second home in Wellington, Nevada. Vicki pulled to the curb on Cook Avenue, near the crosswalk, so Jerry could pop into the Tumalo Country Store to pick up a few snacks.

The Wrights, whose lives reconnected in their late 70s, were married in August 2025. They were in town to spend the Christmas season with Vicki’s adult daughter, Diane Schmidt, who lives at her eponymous horse stable, Diane’s Riding Place, off Cline Falls Highway.

Before leaving the vehicle, DesCamp said Jerry told Vicki: “Honey, do you know how much you are loved?”

He entered the crosswalk across Cook Avenue at the intersection with Fifth Street.

The intersection in Tumalo where Jerry Wright was struck by a driver while crossing the crosswalk on Cook Avenue. A lawsuit blames the county for faulty markings and a lack of street lighting on this busy stretch of road. Image captured in October 2024. Credit: Google Maps

At the same moment, Jennifer Berry-O’Shea was driving southbound on Cline Falls Highway. This is where the speed limit changes from 55 MPH to 25 MPH as the highway becomes a central street in Tumalo.

According to Vicki’s deposition, Berry-O’Shea appeared to be traveling between 35-40 MPH as she neared the crosswalk. The night was dark with rain and high wind, according to local weather reports. Seeing the approaching vehicle, Wright hollered to her husband to watch out. He didn’t hear her. The driver’s vehicle collided with Wright, sending his body flipping 10 feet into the air before landing on the pavement.

According to the lawsuit, Vicki held Jerry in her arms while several witnesses, and the driver, called 911 for an ambulance.

Berry-O’Shea was not charged in relation to the collision, court records show. She had since settled out-of-court with the Wright Estate, DesCamp told the Source, for an undisclosed sum. Berry-O’Shea is not named in this lawsuit.

In the complaint, DesCamp seeks three claims of relief. The first, due to the County’s “negligence resulting in Mr. Wright’s wrongful death,” the Wright Estate seeks $300,000 for medical services and memorial services for Jerry Wright and no less than $1 million to compensate Wright for pain and suffering between the date of the accident and his death.

The second claim seeks no less than $50,000 for Vicki’s loss of her husband, which deprived her of spousal affection, society and companionship while Jerry was in intensive care.

The third relief claim stakes the case for no less than $1 million for the serious emotional distress and trauma Vicki experienced and continues to experience as a witness and bystander to the accident and aftermath that led to her husband’s death, stemming from the Cook Avenue crosswalk in Tumalo.