Investigators determined that approximately 20 minutes after striking Hernandez-Mendoza, Kolarsky walked into work at a nearby hospital.
PORTLAND, Ore. — A Portland doctor was sentenced to prison Tuesday for a hit-and-run that proved fatal in December 2024.
A Marion County judge sentenced Kenneth Kolarsky, 59, to 13 months in prison and three years of post-prison supervision after he pleaded guilty to attempted failure to perform the duties of a driver to an injured person.
While driving to work Dec. 26, Kolarsky struck Nicolas Hernandez-Mendoza as he was walking across North Pacific Highway near Williams Avenue in Woodburn. Hernandez-Mendoza had activated the crosswalk safety lights designed to alert drivers to pedestrians in the roadway before he was hit.
After striking Hernandez-Mendoza, Kolarsky stopped, drove around his unconscious body and then left the scene, the prosecutor’s office said.
Officers found Hernandez-Mendoza in the road. He was transported to a Salem hospital, where he died during emergency surgery. He had suffered a fractured cervical vertebra and a fractured pelvis. Surgeons were unable to stop internal bleeding from his spleen.
Investigators determined that approximately 20 minutes after striking Hernandez-Mendoza, Kolarsky walked into Legacy Silverton Medical Center Hospital, where he worked as an emergency room physician with Northwest Acute Care Specialists.
“Regardless of why the accident occurred, to leave a scene after striking someone with your vehicle is a callous disregard for human life” said Chief Deputy District Attorney Brendan Murphy. “That’s intolerable, and especially offensive when it is committed by a professional who takes an oath to ‘do no harm’”
Woodburn police arrested Kolarsky on May 17, 2025. The prosecutor’s office said charges were limited to the hit-and-run because there was “insufficient evidence” to determine whether the crash itself was criminal.
During sentencing, Judge Courtland Geyer said Kolarsky left “a community member fallen and in the dark” and acted with an “absence of dignity,” according to the prosecutor’s office.
Legacy Silverton Medical Center contracts with NACS to staff its emergency rooms. At the time of the crash, the president of NACS said Kolarsky had been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.