C.O. police in on-and-off pursuit of speeding, reckless driver

Several Central Oregon police agencies were involved in an on-and-off pursuit of a speeding car with apparently stolen license plates in the Bend and Tumalo areas Saturday afternoon, discontinuing the chase several times for public safety, a Deschutes County sheriff’s deputy said.

The string of pursuits began around 1:30 p.m. when a sheriff’s deputy tried to pull over a dark gray Honda for an obscured license plate but the male driver took off at a high rate of speed, Sgt. Shawn Heierman said.

A brief pursuit was discontinued for public safety reasons in the area of busy traffic, he said. Another deputy found the car several minutes later in the Tweed Road area in Tumalo, apparently with a different license plate on it, and the driver, believed to be accompanied by a female passenger, again took off at a high rate of speed.

The driver was driving recklessly and at one point went down a rough stretch of Barr Road, between Gerking Market Road and Highway 126, which Heierman was surprised didn’t disable the car.

Later sightings of the car indicated there likely was no longer a female passenger, the sergeant said. Some cyclists advised of the search provided at least one tip to the location of the still-moving car.

Spike strips were used in an effort to flatten the tires and disable the vehicle, but weren’t successful, Heierman said.

The owner of the license plates seen on the car were contacted in Albany, the sergeant said, and the owner said he had a set stolen last week. It’s not known if the driver is a local resident or not, due to the obscured and apparently switched plates.

“If he hangs in the area, we’ll find him, since we’ve got every police agency in the district looking for him,” Heierman said.