NE Bend police pursuit leads to DUII arrest

Police responding to a reported dispute in northeast Bend early Sunday spotted an SUV whose driver sped away and crashed into the St. Francis of Assisi School playground, damaging some equipment, then backed into a patrol car before being taken into custody, officers said.

Police responded shortly after 2 a.m. to the reported dispute between two men in the 2800 block of NE Aldrich Drive, said Sgt. Dan Ritchie. It was reported one of the men was in a running gray SUV.

One officer responding to the scene spotted an SUV matching that description leaving the area, Ritchie said.

As the officer caught up to the SUV, the driver, later identified as Thomas Theodore Taelour, 23, of Bend, turned off his headlights and made an abrupt turn east, accelerating onto Rosemary Drive at a high rate of speed, the sergeant said.

The officer tried to stop the SUV, which slid through Atherton Court, almost hitting a tree.

As the officer got out to contact the driver, the SUV backed up and took off north on Atherton Court, crashing through the fenced exit gate to the playground area at the St. Francis of Assisi School and Church, Ritchie said. Taelour’s SUV collided with playground equipment before backing into the officer’s patrol car, causing minor damage.

Taelour was taken into custody without further incident and was lodged at the Deschutes County Jail on charges of DUII, attempt to elude police in a vehicle, first-degree criminal mischief and reckless driving. He later was released to a responsible third party, a jail officer said.

Online police records indicate Taelour was arrested on a DUII charge by Bend police last April in the 300 block of Northeast Greenwood Avenue.

It was the second police pursuit in just over 24 hours in northeast Bend to end in an arrest and the third of the weekend in Central Oregon.