The deadly crosswalk crash that has weighed on Woodburn since late 2024 is now headed toward sentencing. A Portland emergency physician, 59-year-old Kenneth John Kolarsky, pleaded guilty in Marion County this week to a felony hit-and-run connected to a December collision that killed a local man. Kolarsky admitted striking 44-year-old Nicolas Hernandez-Mendoza on Dec. 26, 2024, while Hernandez-Mendoza was using a marked crosswalk on Pacific Highway north of Williams Avenue. Sentencing is set for later this month, and prosecutors say the deal on the table still carries the possibility of multiple years in prison.
According to KOIN, Kolarsky pleaded guilty to a felony count tied to the hit-and-run and faces up to five years in prison under the agreement. Prosecutors told the court that the plea resolves an indictment that followed an investigation tracking the suspect SUV’s route away from the crash site and identifying a driver connected to the vehicle.
What Police Say Happened
Woodburn police say Hernandez-Mendoza was in the marked crosswalk at Pacific Highway and Williams Avenue when he was hit, and officers found him lying in the roadway. He later died at a Salem-area hospital. Surveillance video and witness accounts showed a light-colored SUV leaving the scene, and investigators followed that trail west on Williams Avenue and then south on Carol Street as they pieced together the crash, according to KPTV. Hernandez-Mendoza’s daughter told reporters her father had been planning to meet his newborn grandson, and the family later raised funds to return his body to relatives in Mexico.
Arrest And Court Timeline
Police arrested Kolarsky outside Legacy Silverton Medical Center after a Marion County grand jury returned an indictment in May, booking him on a felony hit-and-run warrant. Local coverage has followed the case from the December crash through the May arrest and the months of court filings that followed, including pretrial arguments over what evidence could be used. The Woodburn Independent reported details of the indictment and the arrest outside the hospital where Kolarsky worked.
Medical Board Review And Employment
Kolarsky has been on administrative leave from his emergency room duties while the criminal case moved forward, his employer said in local reporting. The Oregon Medical Board’s public file shows a Notice of Proposed Disciplinary Action dated June 3, 2025, alleging “unprofessional or dishonorable conduct” and repeated acts of negligence, an open administrative case that could affect his license. The board’s license-verification page lists that proposed action and related malpractice history for the physician.
Legal Stakes
Kolarsky had originally been indicted on a class B felony, failure to perform duties of a driver to seriously injured persons, a charge that can carry up to 10 years in prison and a fine of as much as $250,000 under Oregon law, according to local reporting by Our Town. Per that reporting, the plea agreement he accepted reduces his potential prison exposure to roughly five years when the judge hands down a sentence later this month.
The guilty plea and the crash itself have revived community conversations about pedestrian safety along OR-99E in Woodburn, where residents have long complained about fast traffic and scarce safe crossings. Police and prosecutors say the investigation remains active, and anyone with information about the December crash is urged to contact Woodburn Police. More details are expected to surface as additional court records are filed and the sentencing hearing plays out in Marion County Circuit Court.
