Crook County DA ID’s Redmond fugitive shot, wounded by CERT Team
(Update: Crook County DA releases suspect name, other details)
PRINEVILLE, Ore. (KTVZ) – Members of the Central Oregon Emergency Response Team shot and wounded a wanted Redmond man during a guns-drawn, “high-risk” traffic stop north of Prineville Thursday afternoon, Crook County District Attorney Wade Whiting said Friday.
The CERT (SWAT team), which has members from several agencies, executed the traffic stop based on information that Donald Matthew Freuaff, 25, was in crook County with an outstanding parole (violation) warrant, Whiting said.
The Central Oregon Major Incident Team was activated to investigate the incident, the DA said, though he declined to detail the sequence of events or the connection to the closure of Highway 26 8 miles north of Prineville and a crash between a pickup truck and a Bend Police armored car vehicle on Ryegrass Road.
Freauff sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to St. Charles Prineville, Whiting said. After he was released, Freauff was lodged at the Crook County Jail Thursday night on new charges of felon in possession of a firearm, fleeing/attempting to elude a police officer, recklessly endangering another person and reckless driving.
Whiting said more charges are expected as the investigation continues. Grand jury proceedings are scheduled for next week, and the DA said he won’t release further information until after those proceedings, to preserve the integrity of the case and investigation.
The DA's initial charging document filed Friday indicated Freauff rammed his vehicle into another man's vehicle.
Oregon State Police and the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office are the lead investigating agencies.
Under the terms of Senate Bill 111, the officers involved are being placed on administrative leave, pending the results of the investigation, Whiting said. He added that more information will be released as the investigation continues.
A stretch of Highway 26 was closed eight miles north of Prineville around 2:30 p.m. due to law enforcement activity, ODOT advised motorists.
In that area, on Ryegrass Road, police spent several hours investigating the taped-off scene of a collision between a black pickup truck and the armored car from Bend police.
Freauff, who court records show has a lengthy criminal record, was arrested near Milwakie in Sept. 11 by Clackamas County sheriff's deputies dispatched on a welfare check of an unresponsive man in the driver's seat of what turned out to be a stolen pickup truck, the website Canby First resported.
Two loaded guns were recovered along with methamphetamine and heroin. Deputies said Freauff had a felony warrant for his arrest for distribution of heroin.
