‘Not the normal thing to see out there’: Bend hit-and-run leads to traffic stop, China Hat chase, DUII suspect’s arrest
(Update: Adding video, more comments from police, witness)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A hit-and-run crash into a fence at Pilot Butte State Park Sunday night led to a traffic stop on Bend’s south end and a pursuit of the suspected DUII driver, who fled down China Hat Road and abandoned his SUV. A manhunt involving a K-9 team and a drone ended in his arrest, police said.
Officers were dispatched around 8:40 p.m. to the reported crash that damaged a fence at the park, Sgt. Whitney Dickson said.
The reporting party followed the vehicle, a Toyota 4-Runner that police eventually pulled over at Third Street and Reed Market Road, Dickson said.
Officers developed probable cause to investigate the driver for DUII, she said, but he soon took off southbound on Third Street.
Our officers decided not to pursue that vehicle just because of the danger to the community," Bend Police Communications Manager Sheila Miller said Monday.
The suspect driver, identified as a 27-year-old Bend man, was spotted by officers and Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies after leaving the city and heading south on China Hat Road, Dickson said.
They pursued and tried to stop him again, but he took off again, eventually parking his car off the road and fleeing on foot, prompting a manhunt in the area.
After searching for close to an hour, Bend police, assisted by DCSO K-9 Ronin and his partner, Deputy Michael Mangin, tracked the suspect and detained him shortly before 10 p.m.
The driver was booked into the county jail early Monday morning and was held without bail on numerous charges, including DUII, hit-and-run (property), reckless driving, second-degree criminal mischief and three counts of attempting to elude police.
NewsChannel 21 policy is not to name arrested suspects until and unless formal charges are filed.
Videographer Ben Stevenson, who was doing a photo shoot in the area, told us he heard and watched the pursuit down China Hat Road, then saw them "make a loop" and come back up the road, as he recorded video of the chase.
"Guy rolls past us with, like five cops in tow, and he goes right through where we were just taking photos. And then he curves around and basically comes back the direction that he came in. And mind you, this is the middle of nowhere, you know, close to night. And we're just like, what you know, what are the chances?"
As they left, they saw the SUV own in a ravine and more than a dozen law enforcement vehicles along the road, some with guns and night-vision goggles.
Stevenson said, "It was just purely by chance. But it was just so uncharacteristic of Bend, you know --, just not the normal thing to see out there."
Miller added, "Officers have to make a lot of decisions in those immediate moments. After incidents like these happen. They see a lot on a day-to-day basis."
Pilot Butte State Park Manager Joe Wanamaker told us Monday the crash damaged a wooden fence along the sidewalk on the north side of Highway 20 (Greenwood Avenue) between the summit road and the east parking lot, about 50 yards east of the summit road entrance.
"We've cleaned up the posts and rails, so there's just a gap there," he said, adding that he did not yet have a damage estimate.
