Bend driver, 19, arrested after wild pursuit, wrong-way Parkway drive, crashes

Police say he struck tree, power box, two patrol cars

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A 19-year-old Bend resident with a suspended driver’s license was arrested late Tuesday night on reckless driving, hit-and-run and other charges, accused of fleeing police, driving the wrong way on the Bend Parkway and crashing into a tree, power box and two Bend police cars.

Around 10:40 p.m., police received a report of someone disturbing neighbors near the COCC campus by doing “cookies” and loudly revving their engine, Lt. Juli McConkey said.

The caller also drove to the parking lot and confronted the pickup driver, asking him to stop, which he refused. McConkey said the driver followed the caller for about 20 minutes with his lights and light bar on “bright,” throughout northwest Bend.

The caller reported he was able to turn down several streets and get away from the pickup. Police were en route to the area to try to find the driver when the caller reported to 911 that the driver was following him again.

Police located the pickup on Northeast Third Street at Kearney Avenue. An officer tried to stop him at Third Street and Greenwood Avenue, but the driver went around a vehicle and drove onto a sidewalk to elude the officer, heading toward downtown Bend at high speed, McConkey said.

The officer did not pursue the driver, as road conditions were icy and snow-covered. But police again spotted the pickup near Northwest Wall Street and the southbound onramp to the Bend Parkway.

The driver kept going at high speed and missed the turn to go southbound when the pickup went over the center median and headed north in the parkway’s southbound lanes. The driver nearly struck two southbound vehicles head-on.

Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies set up in several locations with “spike strips” to stop the pickup driver, but he did not go through any of the locations.

The pickup was spotted again by Bend police at Revere and Harriman streets, where police said the driver crashed into a tree. When an officer tried to stop him again, he put the pickup in reverse and nearly struck the officer’s car, McConkey said. After driving off, he crashed into a power box, causing an outage in the area.

Officers pursued the driver as he drove toward the Newport Avenue bridge and lost control of his car. Officers tried to block in the pickup to stop him, but he went into reverse and rammed two Bend police cars, damaging them, McConkey said.

The pickup driver continued driving recklessly, she said, as officers saw him turn into the Awbrey Pines Apartments at 2500 Northwest Regency Street and run into an apartment.

Officers were preparing a search warrant when the driver came out of the apartment and he was arrested without further incident.

An area resident, Abby Krause, said the large police response "was very scary, because they were just flying through the neighborhood" and blocking area streets.

"Then I walked down a little bit, and I heard all the cops with their megaphones, telling the suspect to come out with their hands up," she said.

The driver was booked into the county jail on charges including multiple counts of reckless driving, reckless endangering, criminal mischief, attempted assault and fleeing or attempting to elude police. He was arraigned Wednesday afternoon on a dozen initial charges and is due back in court Feb. 23 for arraignment on an expected formal indictment.