Two log truck drivers were killed early on Monday morning, October 26, 2026, when their trucks collided on Highway 204 in Union County, northeastern Oregon, after one driver swerved to avoid a deer in the roadway, the Oregon State Police (OSP) said. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene, and the highway was affected for about seven hours while investigators worked at the crash site.
Source: Oregon State Police via Right Now Oregon
The crash happened at approximately 5:54 a.m. near milepost 36.5 on Highway 204, near the town of Elgin. Troopers from the Oregon State Police responded to the two-vehicle crash involving two Kenworth log trucks in the dark early-morning hours, before sunrise, on a rural stretch of highway used heavily by timber and freight traffic.
Source: Oregon State Police via Right Now Oregon
What the preliminary investigation found
According to the preliminary investigation described by Oregon State Police, Scott Charles Caldwell, 55, of Adams, Oregon, was driving an unloaded Kenworth log truck westbound on Highway 204 when he veered into the oncoming lane to avoid a deer in the road. As Caldwell tried to steer back into the westbound lane, his truck ended up positioned sideways across the roadway, blocking the highway.
Source: Oregon State Police via Right Now Oregon
A fully loaded eastbound Kenworth log truck, driven by Curtis William Gammond, 54, of Pendleton, Oregon, then struck Caldwell's truck. The collision caused the trucks to catch fire, state police said. Both Caldwell and Gammond suffered fatal injuries and were pronounced dead at the scene. No other vehicles were reported involved, and police released no further detail about the deer.
Source: Living Tribute, reporting Oregon State Police
Who responded to the scene
Oregon State Police led the response and the investigation. The La Grande Fire Department, the Elgin Rural Fire Department and the Oregon Department of Transportation assisted at the scene, state police said. Highway 204 was affected for approximately seven hours while investigators examined the site, documented the wreckage and cleared the road before normal traffic could resume.
The road and the risk: why deer are so dangerous for truck drivers
Highway 204 is a state highway in northeastern Oregon serving the Elgin area and the farming and timber communities of Union and Umatilla counties, where loaded and unloaded log trucks are part of daily road life. Rural two-lane highways in this region run through forest and farmland where deer and other wildlife routinely cross, especially around dawn and dusk — exactly when this crash happened.
Road-safety guidance for drivers who meet an animal on the highway is consistent: brake firmly and stay in your lane rather than swerving sharply, because a sudden swerve is one of the most dangerous reactions — above all in a tall, heavy commercial truck, which can roll or jackknife when it is thrown sideways at speed. Monday's crash is the kind of chain reaction that guidance warns about: the attempt to avoid the animal left a truck sideways across both lanes, in the dark, in the path of a fully loaded oncoming truck with almost no time or distance to stop.
Dawn and dusk are peak hours for deer movement. On two-lane rural routes, safety agencies advise scanning the road edges, slowing where deer-crossing signs are posted, and braking in-lane instead of swerving if an animal steps out — a loaded truck needs far more distance to stop, and a sharp swerve can roll the rig.
What happens next
Oregon State Police said the crash remains under investigation, and the agency has not announced any further findings. The two drivers — Caldwell of Adams and Gammond of Pendleton — were working drivers on an early-morning run, and their deaths are a loss felt across the region's trucking and timber communities. For the many Punjabi truckers who drive rural freight routes across the United States, including the Pacific Northwest, the crash is a stark reminder of how quickly an ordinary pre-dawn shift can turn fatal on a dark two-lane highway.