BEAVERTON -- A fight at a Beaverton nightclub led to an assault that shut down eastbound lanes of Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway early Monday morning, police said.
Shortly after 3 a.m., police say several people were arguing at the Blue Iguana nightclub at 3800 Cedar Hills Blvd. According to police, a white Nissan left the nightclub and was followed by a silver GMC Yukon.
The Nissan stopped at a traffic light near Highway 217 and was hit either one time or several times by the GMC truck, police said.
A man jumped out of the passenger side of the Nissan and was immediately run over by the truck.
When officers arrived, they found the man who jumped out of the Nissan unconscious on the ground with severe injuries. He was taken to a nearby hospital and was listed in critical condition.
Witnesses got a partial license plate number of the truck and officers tracked it down in Clackamas County less than an hour later.
Police arrested 24-year-old Hector Torres-Espinoza who was driving the truck and charged him with DUII and felony hit-and-run.
KGW spoke with the property manager of the Blue Iguana who said police are often called to the Latin night club. She said she was not surprised to hear about the incident and the bar has problems with fights spilling out into the parking lot.
Kyle Bauter, the security chief for the Blue Iguana, said there were no fights at his establishment early Monday morning and, the parking lot was clear at 3:10 a.m. after their 3 a.m. close.
“We overstaff security to prevent these problems. There was no altercation physical or verbal inside or outside the club Monday morning,” Bauter said.
He says the photos of those involved in the incident were shown to his staff and no one recognized them as customers.
The incident led to closure of eastbound Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway lanes for several hours.
