BAKER CITY — The driver who hit and killed a Baker City firefighter who was riding his motorcycle on March 12 near Baker City has been charged with criminally negligent homicide.

Robert Lee Drinkard, 77, of Moro, the county seat of Sherman County in north-central Oregon, was arrested Thursday, April 20, at 8:35 a.m. at the sheriff’s office, where he went voluntarily.

Drinkard is charged in the death of Ryan Brecko, 27, a part-time paid volunteer firefighter.

Drinkard was released after his arrest. He is scheduled to enter a plea on May 16 at 1:30 p.m. in Baker County Circuit Court.

Criminally negligent homicide is a Class B felony.

According to Oregon State Police, Brecko was riding his 2020 Harley-Davidson motorcycle east on the Highway 203 overpass over the Interstate 84 freeway at exit 298, about 5 miles north of Baker City, at around 1 p.m. on April 12.

Drinkard was exiting the freeway in a 2007 Ford F-350 pickup truck. Drinkard drove past the stop sign at the top of the offramp and into the highway, where his pickup struck Brecko’s motorcycle. Brecko was thrown from the motorcycle in the collision.

An Oregon State Police trooper was parked nearby, saw the crash and immediately responded to the scene. The trooper called an ambulance and gave emergency medical care to Brecko, who was taken to Saint Alphonsus Medical Center in Baker City, where he later died.

Drinkard remained on scene and cooperated with investigators, according to OSP.

District Attorney Greg Baxter, speaking during Drinkard’s arraignment on Thursday, said Drinkard was having an issue with the canopy on his pickup truck as he was exiting the freeway. Baxter said Drinkard saw the state trooper who was parked near the offramp, and that Drinkard was intending to ask the trooper for help with the canopy issue.

Drinkard then accelerated through the stop sign, Baxter said.

A Baker County grand jury determined that the evidence supported charging Drinkard with criminally negligent homicide.