Redmond motorcyclist police chase ends in crash, arrest
A 32-year-old Redmond motorcyclist led a Deschutes County sheriff’s deputy on a high-speed, wrong-lane pursuit at up to 100 mph early Wednesday, running stop signs and a red light before crashing, deputies said. The man was taken to the hospital and cited on charges.
Around 12:35 a.m., the deputy tried to stop a red and white 1986 Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle for an unspecified “minor traffic offense,” said Sgt. Dan Bilyeu.
When the deputy flipped on his overhead lights, the motorcycle operator, identified as Colton A. Leigh, sped up, heading east on Northwest Maple Avenue and reaching speeds of 100 mph in the ongoing (westbound lane, Bilyeu said.
Bilyeu said Leigh ran stop signs at Northwest 19 th and Ninth streets, then a red light at Maple Avenue and Business Highway 97, continuing east “at an excessive rate of speed,” until he was unable to negotiate a corner at Northeast Negus Way and 11 th Street.
Redmond police assisted in the apprehension of Leigh, who was taken by a Redmond Fire ambulance crew to St. Charles Redmond for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, Bilyeu said.
Due to his treatment there, Leigh was cited and released on a felony charge of attempt to elude a police officer and a misdemeanor charge of reckless driving.
