Bend woman arrested after pursuit, accused of spitting on police officer
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Police said a Bend woman spat on a police corporal early Friday morning, took off in her pickup truck and eventually ended up blocking the Newport Avenue Bridge, where officers broke out a window and used a restraint device to take her into custody.
It all began around 1:45 a.m. when the corporal responded to a call of a suspicious vehicle at the entrance to Pilot Butte State Park along East Highway 20, Lt. Clint Burleigh said.
The corporal contacted the pickup’s driver, on the officer at the initial contact, Burleigh said. The woman refused to get out of the truck, closed her window “and maneuvered her vehicle that put the corporal in fear of being hit by the vehicle,” Burleigh said in a news release.
The woman left in the pickup, briefly stopping in the middle of the travel lanes on westbound Highway 20 before turning south onto Northeast 11th Street and west on Franklin Avenue. Burleigh said she was pursued, at slow speeds, by Bend police and Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies.
A Bend officer was able to deploy spike strips, causing one of the pickup’s tires to deflate, but she continued into downtown Bend, turning north on Wall Street. Officers were able to identify the 46-year-old woman and terminated the pursuit, Burleigh said.
Around 2:30 a.m., another officer found the pickup stopped on the Newport Avenue Bridge, blocking the road.
Officers blocked traffic to take the woman into custody, but had to break out the driver’s-side window to do so. She then was placed in the WRAP restrained device “due to the behaviors she was demonstrating at the time,” Burleigh said, though he added she was unhurt during the incident.
The woman was taken to the county jail and lodged on charges of aggravated harassment, interfering with a police officer, reckless driving, menacing, assault on a public safety officer and fleeing or attempting to elude police.
