Driver Rams Police Cars and Nearly Hits Officers, Later Arrested On 20 Charges
Several Tigard Police officers are thankfully safe, after they were nearly hit by the driver of a stolen car who rammed police cars on Thursday. The suspect was safely taken into custody in a Tigard neighborhood Monday afternoon on 20 criminal charges.
On Thursday, October 24, 2024, officers responded to the Tigard Walmart parking lot (7800 SW Dartmouth Street) just after 10 a.m. A man reported his car had been stolen in a burglary in Portland earlier that morning, and he’d tracked it to the Walmart store parking lot. As plain-clothed detectives responded to the scene, a man and woman came out of the store and got back in the stolen car.
Police officers in marked patrol cars boxed in the stolen car to try and prevent the driver from leaving. However, the driver rammed several police cars and other parked cars, then threw the stolen car in reverse and went up over a curb and fire hydrant to get away, nearly hitting at least two officers in the process. The suspect then led officers on a pursuit headed toward Portland on I-5. Tigard Police supervisors discontinued the pursuit a few minutes later for safety reasons.
In all, four police cars and two other parked cars were damaged. Thankfully, nobody was hurt. The stolen car was recovered by Portland Police the next day, October 25, 2024, and the suspect was identified as Richard Wilson, age 47, from Portland.
On Monday, October 28, 2024, Tigard Police located Wilson near an apartment complex on SW Hunziker Road. He ran through a wooded area, and a K-9 team from Hillsboro Police tracked him to a collapsed pop-up trailer in the backyard of a home on SW Cherry Drive.
For over an hour, officers worked to communicate with Wilson and get him to come out. The Washington County Tactical Negotiation Team (TNT) and Crisis Negotiations Unit (CNU) responded to assist at the scene, along with drone teams from Tigard and Sherwood Police. Wilson u
King City Candidates Forum, hosted by Tigard Life.
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Reviews for the Broadway Rose Theatre Company's latest production, "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical," are coming in, and the consensus is that this is a show you don't want to miss! We are so fortunate to have a top-notch theater right here in Tigard. The Broadway Rose is offering an extended five-week run of "Beautiful," so great seats are still available. See comments for details.
And... for the "Pyrotechnic Purists" among you... here's a little [illegal] Tigard neighborhood show that Tigard Life publisher Mike Antonelli caught on his way home from the festivities at Tigard High School ;-)
Here's a short video from Tigard Life reporter Adam Littman's early-morning balloon flight on the opening day of the 40th Annual Tigard Festival of Balloons (story in comments)
Here's a few more scenes from this mornings opening of the 2024 Tigard Festival of Balloons:
We're LIVE at the Tigard Festival of Balloons - Oregon
Weber's Canyon
Former electrician, mountain climber, and long-term Tigard resident Ron Weber has logged about 300 hours of hacking, whacking, sawing, and clipping his way foot-by-foot through dense tangles of brambles, holly, and ferns using a menagerie of hand tools to build a new hiking trail in the Bull Mountain area. (full story in comments)
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