Madras woman who hit, seriously injured pedestrian arrested after tense armed standoff with officers

(Update: Adding video, struck pedestrian in fair condition)

Sheriff says a bystander tried to disarm the suspect, Taser deployed

MADRAS, Ore. (KTVZ) – A Madras woman who threatened another woman with a gun by text message fled police and ran over a pedestrian Tuesday night, Jefferson County Sheriff Jason Pollock said. She was arrested after she crashed her pickup and pointed a rifle at pursuing officers, prompting a tense standoff that a bystander helped to end.

Deputies, Madras Police and Oregon State Police responded to the “series of violent incidents involving an armed suspect,” Pollock said in a news release.

Police were dispatched around 9:40 p.m. to a home on the SW Culver Highway after reports that Andrea Chelsea Wise, 42, had threatened a 55-year-old Madras woman with a gun via text message, the sheriff and court documents indicated.

Arriving officers tried to stop Wise’s pickup truck, and she initially complied but soon took off, Pollock said.

Wise struck another woman’s SUV before continuing onto the Culver Highway, where the sheriff said she ran over a 39-year-old female pedestrian from Madras, who was severely injured and later flown to St. Charles Bend. A hospital representative said the woman was in fair condition Wednesday.

Wise kept driving south before crashing into a trash dumpster and another vehicle, Pollock said.

Armed with a rifle, she got out and tried to run but was confronted by law enforcement. She then “pointed the rifle at officers, prompting a tense standoff,” the sheriff said.

“A bystander attempted to intervene and disarm the suspect, at which point an officer successfully deployed a Taser, allowing officers to take the suspect into custody.”

Wise was taken to the county jail and booked on numerous charges, including felony hit-and-run, second-degree assault, felony attempt to elude and felon in possession of a firearm.

Wise was arraigned Wednesday afternoon on six initial felony charges: failure to perform the duties of a driver to seriously injured persons, felon in possession of a firearm, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer and three counts of unlawful use of a weapon.

Circuit Judge Daina Vitolins set bail at $500,000 and scheduled Wise’s arraignment on an expected grand jury indictment for next Wednesday.