Miguel Jimenez went to work before sunrise on Aug. 31 to direct traffic through a construction zone in Gresham, Oregon.
Just before 5 a.m., a passing car struck the 50-year-old flagger near NE Division Street and NE Hogan Drive and kept going, according to the Gresham Police Department. Jimenez was taken to a hospital but later died from his injuries.
His family described a man who was kind, generous, and quick to help other people. A GoFundMe organized after his death remembers his “contagious laugh” and says the sudden loss left his family facing funeral and memorial expenses.
Investigators had something useful to work with. City-owned public-safety cameras captured both the collision and the fleeing vehicle’s license plate, sending the investigation across the Columbia River into Vancouver, Washington.
The Trail Crosses the River
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Gresham investigators identified the suspect vehicle as a white 2025 Toyota Camry registered to a Vancouver woman and asked the Vancouver Police Department to check the address on Sept. 2.
They found the Camry outside an apartment complex with damage to the driver’s-side windshield and mirror, along with what the department described as red dried droplets on the front bumper. Courtney McKee, 26, came outside and was detained while Gresham detectives headed north.
“This car for certain struck and killed a flagger in Gresham on the 31st,” one Vancouver officer says while examining the Camry in newly released body-camera footage.
McKee was not arrested in the manslaughter case that day. Officers were detaining her during the investigation while Gresham detectives responded and the Camry was secured.
Then another vehicle pulled into the complex.
“Is that auto glass repair?” the officer said. “Wow.”
An auto-glass technician had arrived for an appointment to repair the Camry’s windshield. The officers stopped the work and helped Gresham detectives obtain a warrant to seize the car as evidence.
They also located Ring camera footage from Sept. 1 showing McKee examining the damaged windshield and speaking with an auto-glass repair company, according to Vancouver police.
The Video Jumps Ahead
McKee left the Sept. 2 encounter without being arrested on the manslaughter case. Gresham detectives and Vehicular Crimes Team members spent the following weeks serving multiple search warrants, reviewing digital evidence, and processing physical and trace evidence recovered from the crash scene and the Camry.
That work identified McKee as the driver, according to Gresham police, and a felony arrest warrant was issued Sept. 29.
The Vancouver video then jumps forward nearly four weeks to a separate encounter on Sept. 30.
“Courtney, you are under arrest for a felony warrant for manslaughter first degree, okay?” an officer tells her before placing her in handcuffs.
Gresham says the agencies had arranged for McKee to surrender that day, and Vancouver officers took her into custody on the warrant.
McKee faces charges in Oregon of first-degree manslaughter, second-degree manslaughter, DUII, failure to perform the duties of a driver leading to a death, reckless driving, and reckless endangering.
Gresham has not publicly explained the evidence supporting the DUII charge. Its account says investigators served multiple warrants, reviewed digital evidence, and processed physical and trace evidence before obtaining the arrest warrant.
McKee is currently being held in Clark County, Washington, where state law makes jail records beyond the basic jail register confidential. That includes the booking photograph, so the image accompanying this story comes from Vancouver Police body-camera footage rather than a jail mugshot. Oregon, where McKee is expected to face the charges, also generally restricts law-enforcement agencies from releasing booking photos before conviction.
The fundraiser for Jimenez says money raised will go directly to his family to help cover funeral, memorial, and related expenses.
All parties are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.