Discover how a fleeing driver in a stolen car drew officers from Hazelwood to Parkrose and into the City of Maywood Park …
After fleeing from an attempted police stop in Hazelwood, this stolen vehicle turns up in Parkrose, where a Portland Police Bureau Public Safety Support Specialist (PS3) stands by until it is towed.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
On Friday, September 4, 2026, at 8:13 p.m., Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officers were dispatched on an “Area Check” call to the 4600 block of N. E. 96th Avenue in the Hazelwood neighborhood of outer East Portland.
‘Area Check’ call grows into major police response
What began as a routine call in Hazelwood soon evolved into a wide-ranging search that stretched into Parkrose and the small, incorporated City of Maywood Park.
According to Portland Police Bureau Public Information Officer Sergeant Kevin Allen, officers were proactively looking for a 15-year-old juvenile male who had an outstanding warrant. Officers located him in a vehicle parked at an ARCO convenience store lot at N. E. Halsey Street and 122nd Avenue.
This is one of four Portland Police Bureau patrol cars positioned along northbound Interstate 205 as officers look for the fleeing driver and any sign of the stolen vehicle.
Before the contact could unfold, the driver of the vehicle preemptively took off at high speed and did not stop when an officer activated emergency lights. The officer shut off the lights and did not pursue, but the call quickly drew a large response as other units joined in to look for the fleeing vehicle.
Dispatch records showed that 25 PPB units eventually tied into the incident, with officers arriving between 8:07 p.m. and 9:02 p.m. as they searched nearby neighborhoods and freeway corridors.
Near where the stolen car was abandoned in Parkrose, an officer keeps watch from his vehicle parked on N. E. Prescott street, while the search continues through nearby streets and yards.
Stolen vehicle found in Parkrose neighborhood
Nothing appeared out of the ordinary at the original area check location near N. E. 96th Avenue and Prescott Street. As officers spread out, a PPB Public Safety Support Specialist (PS3) was posted to guard a vehicle in the Parkrose neighborhood in front of a residence on N. E. Wygant Street near 95th Avenue.
Sergeant Allen confirmed that officers ultimately found the suspect vehicle near N. E. 95th Avenue and N. E. Wygant Street. The vehicle turned out to be stolen and was later recovered for its owner. The PS3 remained on scene with the car until it was towed from the residential block.
Meanwhile, in the City of Maywood Park, patrol cars line N. E. Maywood Place as officers focus their search on the berm and wooded strip along the I-205 Multi Use Path.
At the same time, at least four officers staged on northbound Interstate 205, spaced between the Interstate 84 interchange and the Northeast Sandy Boulevard exit, watching for any sign of the suspect or additional vehicles of interest.
Maywood Park lights up with police presence
The search footprint expanded into the City of Maywood Park – a small incorporated enclave within Portland’s boundaries – where numerous officers lined both sides of N. E. Maywood Place from N. E. Beech Street north to the street’s dead end near Skidmore Place.
This officer watches from his unit while stopped along the I-205 Multi Use Path during the search for the fleeing, wanted teen driver.
At the southern end of N. E. Maywood Place, a Transit Police cruiser repeatedly loud-hailed a warning into the quiet neighborhood: the message told a suspect that he was under arrest, urged him to come out and warned that police dogs would be sent in if he did not surrender. The announcement also emphasized that officers had the area surrounded.
House lights flicked on along the block as neighbors stepped to front doors and windows, watching the unusual concentration of marked units lighting up their normally quiet city streets.
In the City of Maywood Park, officers keep a keen eye on the berm just west of the I-205 Multi Use Path as they search for the wanted teen.
Patrol cars and SUVs aimed headlights and spotlights toward the grassy berm just west of the I-205 Multi Use Path, as officers focused their attention on the wooded strip between the neighborhood and the freeway.
Juvenile suspect tracked, arrested and booked
From there, officers worked the surrounding streets and backyards, following up on sightings and information developed at the scene.
Sergeant Allen reported that officers tracked the suspect to a nearby house, where he was taken into custody. The 15-year-old was booked into Portland’s Donald E. Long Juvenile Detention Facility on his outstanding warrant and on new charges of Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle (UUMV) and attempting to elude police.
Back in Parkrose, a tow truck driver hooks up the recovered stolen vehicle as officers wrap up their work after the teen is taken into custody nearby.
While the incident began as a simple “Area Check” call in Hazelwood, it unfolded into a large-scale, coordinated response drawing on patrol officers, Transit Police and support personnel across outer East Portland and Maywood Park before ending with the arrest of the wanted juvenile and the recovery of a stolen vehicle.
© 2026 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
