Chase, crash, arrest shake NE Bend neighborhood

Neighbors recounted a disturbing wake-up call Monday after a man led police on a high-speed chase into their northeast Bend neighborhood in the wee hours of the morning.

Cheryl Howard lives right across the street from where police say a Redmond man ditched his car and tried to run from police, only to be caught by a Bend police K-9 hiding in a backyard.

Howard said sirens, lights and barking dogs woke her up around 3 a.m.

It was an attempted traffic stop on the Bend Parkway early Monday morning that sparked the three-agency high-speed chase.

Shortly before 3 a.m., a Deschutes County sheriff’s deputy tried to pull over a white 2004 Chevy four-door sedan heading south on the Bend Parkway near the Empire Avenue overpass after an unsignaled turn, said sheriff’s Sgt. Dan Bilyeu.

The driver, identified as Braxton Michael Monson, 27, of Redmond, sped off and took the Butler Market Road exit, heading east on Butler Market and then taking the northbound on-ramp back onto the parkway, Bilyeu said.

Two Oregon State Police troopers were in the area and joined in to assist with the pursuit, the sergeant said. Bend police also were advised of the pursuit and responded to assist, including a K-9 unit.

The pursuit, which Lt. Paul Garrison said lasted less than 10 minutes, hit speeds of about 80 mph on the parkway and Empire Avenue, at a time of day with little or no other traffic on the roads.

Monson drove into the Lava Ridges subdivision on Brookstone Lane, then turned onto Blue Bush Court, where he crashed the car in a private driveway and ran, Bilyeu said.

Howard said, “We saw the officers coming down the sidewalk with their guns drawn and flashlights and that configuration, and so we were like, ‘Something kind of serious is happening,’ so we got up and turned on all our external lights.”

Two passengers, Brandi Lyn Lindquist, 22, and Benjamin Robert Watson, 23, both of Bend, stayed in the car and were taken into custody, the sergeant said.

Sheriff’s deputies, OSP troopers and Bend police officers established a containment perimeter to search for the driver, Bilyeu said.

The Bend police K-9 team of Officer Erick Supplee and “Zlatan” tracked and found Monson hiding in the backyard of a home on Marsh Orchid Drive and he was also taken into custody, the sergeant said. He added that there were no reported injuries and only minor property damage resulting from the crash.

NewsChannel 21 spoke to the woman who lived at the home where Monson was hiding, who asked not to be identified.

” I heard a thud, so I of course leaped out of bed,” she said. “And I was afraid to look out my shades even, because I didn’t know if someone was there on the back deck.”

The woman says she heard multiple crashes and then heard sirens, so she called 911, telling dispatchers she thought someone was in her backyard.

Police showed up shortly later and found Monson under her deck.

She says the incident scared her pretty badly, but she was grateful how fast police tracked Monson down.

Monson was being held without bail at the county jail on arrest warrants for probation and parole violations, as well as new felony and misdemeanor elude charges, reckless driving and methamphetamine possession, manufacture and distribution charges.

Monson was living in Madras when he made news back in 2007. He was “matrixed” out of the Deschutes County Jail due to crowding on Jan. 7 — and about a month later, he was charged with attempted murder after police said he beat another man unconscious with a baseball bat. Monson later pleaded guilty to felony assault and was sentenced to six years in prison and three years probation.

Lindquist also was held without bail on a probation violation, as well as outstanding warrants for first-degree forgery and absconding from parole, and a new meth possession charge. Watson – who was on Deschutes County Parole and Probation’s “Most Wanted” list, for burglary and resisting arrest – also was held without bail on a parole violation charge.

Garrison estimated 80 percent of such pursuits result from an attempted traffic stop for a minor traffic violation, like a tail light that’s out or an unsafe lane change.

As for chases on city streets, he said officers take various factors into account in deciding whether to continue or terminate a pursuit, including the time of day and amount of traffic, as well as whether it’s entering a residential area where children or pedestrians may be present — and how fast the driver is going.