Learn what officers uncovered after a driver ran from a Hazelwood collision scene …
This SUV doesn’t just bump the Sherwin‑Williams storefront in outer East Portland – it drives through it, sending debris across the Hazelwood paint store’s sales floor.
By David F. Ashton
A driver who crashed a vehicle into a paint store in the Hazelwood neighborhood on Tuesday afternoon later forced his way into a nearby home, leading to a felony arrest in outer East Portland. The incident unfolded on July 21 at about 4:45 p.m. at the northeast corner of S. E. 97th Avenue and Division Street.
Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct officers responded after reports that a vehicle had smashed into the Sherwin-Williams Paint Store at the busy intersection. According to information from PPB, two people inside the business suffered minor injuries from flying debris when the vehicle punched through the storefront.
Before officers arrived, the driver fled the scene on foot.
Inside the Sherwin‑Williams Paint Store, thousands of paint chips and demolished displays show the path this SUV takes as it rampages through the outer East Portland business.
Driver runs through Hazelwood neighborhood after crash
Witness observations indicated that the driver ran northbound through the narrow alley along S. E. 98th Avenue for about four blocks, then jogged west on S. E. Lincoln Street and north on 97th Avenue, moving deeper into the surrounding residential area.
As officers established a perimeter around the neighborhood, a resident in a home near S. E. 97th Avenue and Harrison Street called 911 to report a burglary in progress. The Portland Bureau of Emergency Communications dispatchers relayed that information to responding officers, who converged on the address.
Officers reached the home, escorted the resident to safety, and then searched the house. They located and arrested a suspect inside. Through the course of the investigation, officers determined that the man found in the home was the same driver who had crashed into the paint store and fled.
This snub‑nose revolver and a box of bullets emerged from a residential mailbox where officers report the fleeing driver stashed them while running through the Hazelwood neighborhood.
Loaded gun hidden in mailbox, suspect jailed on multiple felonies
While fleeing the crash scene and before breaking into the occupied home, the driver reportedly hid a loaded firearm inside a residential mailbox where S. E. 98th Avenue dead-ends into
Lincoln Street, along his route to the home invasion. Officers recovered the firearm and seized it as evidence.
Officers arrested 55–year–old John Foster Graff of Troutdale. Graff was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) at 12:11 a.m. that morning on charges of Reckless Endangerment (four counts), Felon in Possession of a Firearm, Burglary in the First Degree, Assault in the Third Degree, Criminal Mischief in the First Degree, Failure to Perform the Duties of a Driver, and Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants (DUII).
As of publication, Graff remained lodged in the MCDC without bail on a Parole Violation charge.
If you have information, and haven’t yet spoken with investigators, you are asked to contact police at their case-specific webpage [CLICK HERE] and reference Case No. 26-211949.
Images courtesy Portland Police Bureau
© 2026 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
