Warm Springs man flees Madras traffic stop, gives up after standoff

Failure to properly signal a turn led to a brief police pursuit of a car with two Warm Springs men north of Madras Wednesday morning. The driver soon stopped and surrendered, but his passenger, a fugitive, ran and holed up in a house, prompting a call-out of the region’s SWAT team and his eventual surrender, police said.

A Madras officer tried to stop a 1997 Subaru near Northwest Birch Lane and Glass Drive shortly before 10 a.m. for failure to signal turn at least 100 feet before an intersection, said Police Chief Tanner Stanfill.

The driver, Victor Becerra Jr., 34, tried to elude police, but stopped near Northwest Depot Street and Commercial Road, Stanfill said.

Becerra got out and surrendered, but a passenger identified as Daniel F. Arce, 27, got out and ran toward the east. The police chief said Arce was seen running into a house at 847 Northwest Third Street.

“Mr. Arce was known to have an existing warrant and had made previous threats that he would not be arrested without a fight,” Stanfill said in a news release, adding that a semi-automatic pistol was found in the car.

The residents of the home left the house and told police an unknown man had come running into the house.

A perimeter was set up around the house by Madras and Warm Springs police, Oregon State Police and Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies.

In addition, the Central Oregon Emergency Response Team (CERT) was called out, as well as OSP’s SWAT Team, bringing in armored vehicles, officers and police dogs from as far south as Bend.

After obtaining a search warrant for the home, officers gave Arce commands over loudspeaker to come out, and he eventually surrendered to authorities, Stanfill said, adding that the residents did not wish to pursue trespass charges.

Both men were lodged at the Jefferson County Jail. Becerra was charged with attempting to elude police, hindering prosecution and obstructing governmental administration. Arce was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and held without bail on a probation violation warrant.