LAKESIDE — T’ree Acres gas station attendant Dani Griffin saw the crash happen Saturday morning. The Dodge pickup truck that struck Lakeside Mayor Orville Nelson didn’t even slow down.

The driver sped off of Highway 101 and under the sheltered area in front of the gas station store that morning. The pickup didn’t slow down as it careened toward the 72-year-old’s parked Toyota pickup. It slammed into him as he stood beside it. It ripped into the driver-side truck’s door.

The careening truck’s front passenger tire broke off. The driver still didn’t seem to slow down, Griffin recalled.

“He was just laying there,” Griffin said, pointing to the spot in front of the store near where Nelson was parked.

Gas station customers had to chase down the limping vehicle to stop the driver and get him out of the truck. Griffin called 911. Then she turned her attention to Nelson.

He wanted someone to call his wife.

He was worried the accident had broken his leg.

He was trying to get up.

“I just tried to keep him from moving around,” she said.

Griffin kept him on the ground and tried to comfort him. She said Nelson was coherent in the moments after the crash. He repeated his phone number for her to call.

“He remembered his own phone number,” she said. “I was thanking God for that.”

Nelson was a regular customer of T’ree Acres Gas & Mini-Mart off U.S. Highway 101 in Lakeside. He often came in for coffee and chats with owner Bert Guin in the mornings.

“I had just given him his coffee,” Griffin said.

It was about 8:30 that morning and Nelson’s second coffee run of the day. He told Griffin he was going to pick up lumber and had family members coming over for a work party at his house. He was excited and in a hurry, she said.

“I keep thinking that if he had slowed down, he wouldn’t have been there,” Griffin said.

Police later arrested the driver of the pickup truck, Nicholas J. Mason, 27, of Portland. They charged him with second-degree assault, unlawful possession of heroin, driving under the influence of intoxicants - controlled substance, reckless driving, reckless endangering and two counts of criminal mischief. He remains at the Coos County jail this morning on $100,000 bail.

Nelson remains at Legacy Emanuel Hospital and Health Center. He had been upgraded to serious condition this morning a hospital spokeswoman said. And his friends and acquaintances in Lakeside are waiting for better news on his recovery.

Nelson is new to Lakeside politics. He took the mayor’s oath in 2006. He didn’t waste time taking on city issues, said Guin, who also served on the council for 12 years before Nelson was elected.

“He takes the bull by the horns,” Guin said.

Nelson’s known as a man who researches issues and gives his opinion to help council members make decisions. 

Council President Mack Eubanks will be filling in for Nelson. He said he isn’t worried about the city’s departments falling into disarray.

“We have very strong administrators,” Eubanks said. “We are going to pull together and make it through this.”