Surprisingly, the suspect – said to be a felon caught with drugs and ‘body armor’ in his possession – was out of jail in time for supper that night. Here’s what we’ve learned …
Police block off streets surrounding SE 122nd Avenue, after a driver crashes into an office building, and then takes off on foot.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
The driver crashed his Dodge Durango into a building in a Hazelwood Neighborhood office park in outer East Portland – and the sound of the collision woke up neighbors at 1:45 a.m. on November 8.
The office, at 2809 SE 122nd Avenue, is where the short vehicle chase ended. It had started a few minutes earlier, when Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct officers tried to stop a blue SUV at SE 119th Avenue and Clinton Street.
“Officers observed possible drug activity associated with the vehicle, when it was parked at SE 122nd Avenue and Market Street,” informed PPB Public Information Officer Sgt. Pete Simpson.
When the district patrol car’s flashing red and blue strobe lights lit up, the Durango took off.
The SUV crashed into the back of this office building with such force, the impact blew out windows in the front of the building.
“The driver attempted to elude police by driving around the block twice,” Simpson continued. “Along the way, his vehicle struck two parked cars on the ‘second lap’, before crashing into the building in the office complex.”
Determined to make a getaway – even if not cleanly – the driver stumbled out of his busted rig and tried to escape on foot. He didn’t get far.
The SUV’s driver, 37-year-old Ronald Lloyd Nelson, was arrested at 1:48 a.m., and taken by ambulance to a Portland hospital for treatment to minor injuries suffered in the crash, Simpson said.
The impact of the crash not only broke bricks off the office building’s exterior wall, it was sufficient to also blow out the office’s front window on the other side.
“Officers located body armor and a small amount of narcotics inside the vehicle,” Simpson said.
After a brief stay in the Emergency Room, Nelson was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) at 5:01 a.m. that morning.
Police filed numerous charges against this man, 37-year-old Ronald Lloyd Nelson.
Simpson reported, “Nelson was booked on charges of Felon in Possession of Body Armor, Attempt to Elude by Vehicle, Possession of Heroin, Possession of Methamphetamine, Attempt to Elude on Foot, Failure to Perform the Duties of a Driver (4 counts), Reckless Driving, and Theft in the Second Degree by Receiving.”
However, after racking up a total of seven (7) misdemeanor charges and four (4) felony charges, Nelson was released into the community later that same day on “Pre-Trial Supervision”.
It’s not known of Nelson made his Friday court appearance – but MCDC records, as of this writing, shows him no longer to be in custody.
© 2012 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News
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