Police find, arrest St. Charles Bend patient walkaway in Redmond after Pilot Butte MS put in ‘secure’ status

(Update: Patient who left Bend hospital found, arrested in Redmond)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Pilot Butte Middle School was placed in precautionary “secure” status Wednesday afternoon as police in the area searched for a hospital patient who walked away from nearby St. Charles Bend and was later found and arrested in Redmond.

“We are looking for a man who left the hospital,” Bend Police Communications Manager Sheila Miller told KTVZ News during the search.

“He’s wearing blue scrubs, and we would like to get him back there,” Miller said, adding that he was last seen near Neff Road and Cliff Drive. If anyone sees him, we ask them to call 911.”

Around 4:10 p.m., Miller advised KTVZ News: "The man has been located and arrested in Redmond." We have requested further details.

Deschutes County dispatchers had sent a Deschutes Alert emergency phone notice within a 1 ½-mile radius with that information, she added. A follow-up let them know he'd been located and was in police custody.

Bend-La Pine Schools notified parents and others through the BLConnect phone and text system about the PBMS precautionary secure status “due to police activity in the neighborhood.”

“Students who walk home instead will be kept in the gym until guardians are available to pick them up,” they were told. “Parents of students who walk: Staff will bring your student out front to meet you when you arrive at school. Staff will remain at PBMS until all walking students have been picked up today.”

Under secure status, everyone goes inside and the outside doors are locked, but otherwise, activities continue as usual. It’s the protocol used “to safeguard people within the building when a potential threat exists outside the building,” said Bend-La Pine Schools Director of Communications Scott Maben.