Bend man arrested in hit-and-run that knocked out cable, Net

A 32-year-old Bend man was arrested Wednesday evening on hit-and-run and other charges, accused of crashing into a BendBroadband utility box in the early-morning hours and fleeing. The collision triggered a cable TV, Internet and phone outage for about 7,000 customers that lasted all day.

Officers responded to the area of 603 SE Third Street (near Wilson Avenue) around 12:27 a.m. on the reported crash and found significant damage to the utility box and that whoever crashed into it had driven away, said Lt. Kurt Koester.

An investigation led to the identification of Nathan Louis Goldberg as the suspect, Koester said.

Goldberg was found around 6 p.m. and arrested on charges of failure to perform the duties of a driver in a crash, reckless driving, criminal mischief and tampering with evidence.

Goldberg was booked into the Deschutes County Jail, but released around 8 p.m. on his own recognizance, pending a Nov. 25 court appearance, a jail officer said, noting that the charges all were Class A misdemeanors and he had no prior criminal record.

BendBroadband officials said the crash caused an outage for about 7,000 customers in the surrounding areas. Crews were on scene by 1 a.m. and began restoring service by midday, completing the work by about 7:30 p.m.

For updates, visit the BendBroadband blog posting at http://blog.bendbroadband.com/residential/2014/11/12/southwest-bend-outage-due-to-overnight-accident/