Beanbag rounds end Prineville standoff after chase
An alleged drunk driver from Redmond refused to pull over on Highway 97 Saturday night and led police on a pursuit east on Highway 126 to Prineville, where a brief standoff ended with the firing of beanbag rounds and his arrest, Oregon State Police reported Sunday.
Around 10:40 p.m., OSP troopers in Redmond got a report of a black Dodge pickup on Highway 97 near Redmond that was unable to stay in its lane, said Lt. Josh Brooks, OSP’s public information officer.
Troopers found the pickup in Redmond and tried to stop the driver, later identified as Shane C. Shantie, 33, of Redmond, he said.
Instead, the driver fled east on Highway 126 into Prineville, stopping at the Highway 126/26 junction, Brooks said.
After a brief standoff with police, Shantie got out of the pickup, but refused to follow commands, the lieutenant said. As a result, “less than lethal force was used to subdue” Shantie and take him into custody, the spokesman said.
Shantie was taken to Pioneer Memorial Hospital and treated for his injuries, then brought to the Crook County Jail, where he was lodged on charges of felony attempt to elude police, DUII, reckless driving, recklessly endangering a person, attempt to elude (on foot), resisting arrest, giving false information to police and misdemeanor driving with a suspended license.
He was held without bail for charges in another jurisdiction, according to the county jail’s online records. Prineville police assisted OSP in the incident, Brooks said.
Beanbag rounds, used to apprehend suspects, consist of small fabric “pillows” filled with lead shot, fired from a 12-gauge shotgun. They are designed to render a violent suspect immobile but to cause minimum long-term impacts.
Witness Ted Hussey posted to Facebook and shared with NewsChannel 21 a video of the incident, which ended in a Les Schwab Tires parking lot across from Towne Pump in Prineville.
On the video, several officers can be heard shouting, “Get on the ground right now!” and you hear the sounds of three shots being fired.
Moments later, an officer yells, “Get on the ground right now! Put your hands behind your back! Get on your stomach!”
Earlier, unconfirmed police scanner reports indicated officers used spike strips to stop the fleeing pickup and had their guns drawn after he stopped, refusing at first to obey commands and get out of the pickup. The scanner reports indicated he restarted the pickup, which was partially boxed in, and threatened to ram officers’ vehicles during the confrontation.
