Wash. state fugitive jailed after Madras chase, crash

An attempted traffic stop for a bad brake light led to a Madras police chase early Wednesday morning as a passenger took the wheel and sped away, leading to a collision with the pursuing patrol car and the later arrest of a Washington state fugitive, Jefferson County Sheriff Jim Adkins said.

A sheriff’s deputy stopped a vehicle shortly before 2 a.m. for the equipment violation, Adkins said. While the deputy and a Madras police officer were dealing with the driver, the passenger, later identified as William Alfaro, 27, slid into the driver’s seat and sped away, the sheriff said.

The deputy pursued the suspect into the Brightwood Corp. area north of Madras, where the car entered a dead-end street, then turned around and came back toward the pursuing patrol car, Adkins said.

The deputy pulled over to let the suspect car pass, but it hit the left front bumper of the patrol car, causing minor damage, according to the sheriff.

The deputy lost sight of the vehicle, which got stuck in a snow bank a short distance away. The driver then fled on foot, but Adkins said Alfaro was found and arrested without incident in his girlfriend’s car, which was parked near the Brightwood plant, where she works.

Alfaro, who Adkins said had been staying in Madras, was taken to the Jefferson County Jail, where he was lodged on a no-bail felony warrant out of Washington state and numerous new charges, including fleeing or attempting to elude police in a car and on foot, attempted assault on a public safety officer, unlawful use of a weapon, reckless driving, hit and run (failure to perform the duties of a driver) and methamphetamine possession.

Alfaro is scheduled to be arraigned on local charges at 1 p.m. Thursday, Adkins said.

It was the second of three unrelated police pursuits in Central Oregon in a 9-hour period.