Tigard man identified as fatality in Sept. 12 crash
A celebratory Mass was held Sept. 15 at Jesuit High School for Conner Luby
Conner Luby
The driver who died Sept. 12 in a fiery, two-vehicle collision on Interstate 5 has been identified as 20-year-old Conner Luby of Tigard.
Luby died after the 2001 Saab he was driving collided with a semi-truck at about 2:10 a.m. near the Lake Oswego-Durham exit on Lower Boones Ferry Road, Oregon State Police said.
Oregon State Police Lt. Greg Hastings said Sept. 15 that Luby was driving with a suspended license. There is still an ongoing investigation into what caused the crash.
Police said that the 1998 Western Star tractor hauling a 2008 belly dump-style semi-trailer driven by 36-year-old David Watkins of Vancouver, Wash., was traveling north on I-5 approaching the Boones Ferry Road off-ramp when it was struck from behind by Luby’s 2001 Saab. The impact caused the car to flip and catch fire.
The semi-truck driver and another motorist stopped and used fire extinguishers on the Saab, but were unable to extinguish the fire before the car was fully engulfed, trapping Luby – the only occupant of the vehicle.
Watkins was not injured.
Luby’s Facebook page has become a gathering place for family and friends to share their thoughts on the Jesuit High School graduate and Arizona State University student.
“It has been incredibly comforting to read this outpouring of love … and affection and to find out how many lives he had touched,” a post attributed to the Luby family read. “Conner was a great kid, a great friend, a great brother and a great son.”
There was a celebratory Mass for Luby at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept 15, at Jesuit High School in Beaverton, 9000 S.W. Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway.