Tigard,OR : Tigard PD officer critically hurt in off-duty crash has family in Utah on December, Thursday 21st 2017

A Tigard Police officer with ties to Murray, Utah is clinging to life in an Oregon hospital.

Matthew Barbee, 38, is in critical but stable condition at Legacy Emmanuel Hospital.

He is in a coma and his loved ones are unsure when he could wake up.

Barbee had pulled over to the side of Highway 26 around 1:35 a.m. last Thursday, December 14 after thinking his personal car had a flat tire.

He was rear-ended by a suspected drunk driver.

Family friend Aimee Jongejan, of Sandy, Utah said the driver who hit him was a 33-year-old man on his way home from a company holiday party. She said he is cooperating with police.

“It’s hard when one person’s mistake, and it is just a mistake to drink and drive, shatters an entire family,” she said.

Jongejan said Barbee’s family is clinging to hope he will survive.

“Matt is an extremely… he’s a fighter. He’s fought his whole life. He’s fought for others and he needs to fight for himself, now,” she said. “He will never be able to care for his family again. And that’s the hardest part.”

Barbee moved to Oregon from Utah with his wife, Sherrie Utley-Barbee (also from Sandy, Utah) more than a decade ago. He’s been working as a police officer in the Tigard precinct and recently bought a new home with his wife and three kids in the small rural town of Vernonia, outside of Portland.

“He’s the one they send when they need to talk someone down,” said Jongejan. “He’s one of the most kind and giving people I’ve ever met.”

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Tigard PD officer critically hurt in off-duty crash has family in Utah