Bend police K-9’s bite nabs fleeing fugitive

A fleeing Bend transient wanted for violating parole was arrested late Tuesday night – with the bite of a police K-9 on his leg – on charges he struck another man in the face at a grocery store parking lot, threatened several people with a knife and fled on a bike, police said.

The initial report said the man was waving the knife around and threatening several people in the Albertson’s North parking lot at 1800 NE Third Street, said Cpl. Rob Emerson. He said they later determined the transient, identified as Lauren Coge Graham, 40, did not know the man he struck and it was a random encounter.

Officers arriving in the area learned Graham had left on a bike westbound on NE Revere Avenue, Emerson said.

K-9 Officer James Kinsella found Graham in the area of Revere and Division Street and tried to stop him. Emerson noted that Graham, 6-foot-5 and 280 pounds, was reported to be armed and dangerous, and tried to escape behind the nearby Shepherd’s House homeless shelter, where several people were outside.

As a result, Kinsella deployed K-9 Haras, who apprehended Graham in the area of Division Street and Thurston Avenue, where he was taken into custody and the knife recovered, Emerson said.

Bend Fire medics took Graham to St. Charles-Bend, where he was treated for injuries to his leg.

He was then lodged at the Deschutes County Jail, where he was held without bail on the felony parole violation warrant and charges of first-degree attempted assault, menacing, second-degree disorderly conduct, reckless endangering, obstruction of justice and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon.

Alcohol appears to have played a factor in the incident, Emerson said.