Bend man arrested after allegedly threatening deputy; motorcycle pursuit temporarily halts train traffic

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A 40-year-old Bend man was arrested Tuesday - for the second time in a month - after he allegedly threatened a Deschutes County sheriff's deputy and fled on a motorcycle. Paul Alfred Akehurst was taken into custody in Deschutes River Woods following a law enforcement search that lasted nearly an hour.

Tuesday's incident began shortly after Akehurst appeared in Deschutes County Circuit Court, DCSO Puublic Information Officer Jason Carr said.

The search for the suspect required BNSF Railway to temporarily stop train traffic in the area for safety. This marks the second time Akehurst has been arrested by the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office in the past month.

Akehurst had been in court earlier that day before the encounter with law enforcement. At 1:32 p.m., he contacted a deputy in the Deschutes River Woods area. During the interaction, Akehurst reportedly yelled and made threatening statements and gestures toward the deputy before fleeing the scene on a motorcycle, Carr said..

The deputy tried to stop the motorcycle, but Akehurst sped away toward the vicinity of Cherokee and Navajo roads.

That led to a large law enforcement response that included a search along nearby railroad tracks. For safety reasons, BNSF Railway temporarily halted all train traffic in the area while deputies searched for the suspect.

Deputies located Akehurst at 2:34 p.m. and took him into custody without further incident. He was booked into the Deschutes County Jail and faces new charges of eluding and reckless endangering.

The incident follows a previous arrest on Feb. 25, when a Deschutes County Sheriff's Office SWAT team took Akehurst into custody in the Sunriver area. At that time, he was wanted on multiple felony warrants including aggravated identity theft, eluding, reckless driving, reckless endangering and driving while suspended or revoked.

KTVZ News also reported on Akehurst back in 2014, when Bend Police arrested him for DUII after he was caught driving 100 miles per hour down 3rd Street in Bend.