Josephine County deputy cited for careless driving

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Medford police have cited a Josephine County Sheriff's Department deputy who caused a four-car pile-up Aug. 26 on Riverside Avenue.

After the city attorney reviewed reports on the crash, Medford police cited deputy Shawn Shaw on a charge of careless driving.

Shaw, a police dog handler, was in Medford along with another Josephine County deputy to train with Medford police. The three officers — Medford officer Tom Venables, deputy Jeffrey Iles and Shaw — were driving separately across town from one training site to another with their dogs.

Shaw, 37, reached for something inside his vehicle and was momentarily distracted, failing to notice that traffic had stopped at a red light at the intersection of Riverside and East 12th Street, police said.

His vehicle pushed Iles' vehicle into Venables' car, which then struck a passenger car driven by Central Point resident David Shane Morris. All the vehicles were heavily damaged.

City policy requires all crashes involving police or other city-owned vehicles to be reviewed by the city attorney.

Josephine County Undersheriff Don Fasching said he could not comment on whether Shaw would face disciplinary action as a result of the accident.

— Anita Burke

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