Family of motorcyclist thrown from bridge is 'hopeful'

The family of a Salem man who was thrown off of his motorcycle and into the Willamette River after a crash on Monday is hopeful that 73-year-old William Chamberland Jr. will fully recover from his injuries.

According to Mark Glyzewski with Salem Hospital, Chamberland remained in critical condition at the hospital on Thursday morning.

Chamberland's family has declined to speak with the media for the time being, but an off-duty volunteer firefighter who pulled him out of the river on Monday went to Salem Hospital to visit Chamberland Wednesday afternoon and said his family was in high spirits.

"I didn't get to actually see him," said Matt Barnhart, 42, of Salem. "But I met with the family in the waiting room and they seemed very hopeful."

Barnhart said that he greeted with tearful thank yous from multiple family members of Chamberland's but that they didn't really expand on his status.

"They didn't go into a lot of detail about his condition," he said. "They said that he was simply broken but (they) were looking forward to him being fixed."

Barnhart was the first person to reach Chamberland, who had fallen at least 60 feet from the Marion Street Bridge into the Willamette River on Monday afternoon. It was Barnhart's day off and he had just launched his own private boat into the water — just upstream from the bridge.

He's also a 16-veteran volunteer firefighter skilled at CPR. When he saw Chamberland floating with his head underwater, he immediately secured him to the boat and began performing first aid until the Salem Fire Department took over.

Chamberland was then taken to Salem Hospital, where he has remained since the incident.

The family of the motorcyclist released a statement Wednesday afternoon that thanked everyone involved with the incident.

Email aroemeling@statesmanjournal.com,call (503) 399 6884 or follow on Twitter @alisharoemeling