Eugene police cite Oregon assistant football coach after downtown crash
A downtown Eugene parking-lot crash put Oregon assistant coach Ra’Shaad Darnell Samples on the docket for DUII and reckless driving.
A downtown Eugene parking-lot crash put one of Oregon football’s most visible assistants, Ra’Shaad Darnell Samples, on the docket for DUII and reckless driving.
Eugene police responded at 1:43 a.m. on April 12 to West 7th Avenue and Willamette Street after a crash involving a Ford F-150 and a parked Dodge Ram. The DMV crash report says the Ford F-150 backed into the parked truck, which belonged to Steven James Young of Eugene. No apparent injuries were reported, but both vehicles sustained damage.
Samples, 31, was cited in lieu of custody at 2:02 a.m., according to later reporting. He faces misdemeanor charges of DUII and reckless driving. He is scheduled to appear in Eugene Municipal Court on July 20 at 1 p.m. and is being represented by Eugene attorney Bryan Boender.
The case carries more weight in Eugene because Samples is not a background staffer. Oregon head coach Dan Lanning officially announced his hire on April 9, 2024, as assistant head coach and running backs coach, after stops at Arizona State University and the Los Angeles Rams. He was entering his third season with the Ducks in 2026, making him a familiar figure within the program and a recognizable name to fans around Lane County.
An Oregon athletics spokesperson said the matter was handled internally. That leaves the public-facing side of the case in the hands of Eugene police and the court system, where the details of the downtown collision and the charging decision will now be part of the record.
The incident also lands in a city where late-night driving and parking-lot traffic can create immediate safety concerns in the downtown core. West 7th Avenue and Willamette Street sits in the heart of that activity, and a crash there just before 2 a.m. is the kind of event that can quickly draw attention beyond the police blotter.
The episode echoes an earlier DUII case involving University of Oregon football staff. In 2017, KVAL reported the arrest of assistant coach David Reaves on DUII charges, giving this latest case an unsettling precedent inside the program.
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