Find out why the person who may have smashed a stolen car in this outer East Portland wreck that damaged two other vehicles, was released by police officers before the wreckage was even cleared …
After this wreck on SE Woodstock Boulevard at 80th Avenue occurs, Portland Fire & Rescue paramedics arrived to check on those occupants of the three smashed vehicles who hadn’t already run away
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
Neighbors who heard the grinding crash of a three-vehicle pile-up on SE Woodstock Boulevard at 80th Avenue – on Monday, August 29 — feared that someone had been injured or even killed killed. First-responders were dispatched to an “Accident-with Injury” at 7:26 p.m. that evening.
At the scene East Precinct officers, and firefighters from the PF&R Lents Station 11 Engine Company, found three vehicles – and between two of them was a Subaru Outback, on its roof. After paramedics examined the people involved in the crash, they departed. “No one was taken to a hospital,” an officer at the scene reported.
Careening west from the Lents neighborhood in outer East Portland into the Woodstock neighborhood, the driver of a stolen Subaru Outback smashes into two other vehicles.
“We heard the crash, and I came out to look,” a teenage neighbor told East Portland News. “I saw two men running away from the overturned car, chased them down, and pointed them out to officers.”
One man was taken into custody and was seated in a police cruiser.
As the investigation continued, owners and legitimate drivers of a brand new Subaru Forester and late model Toyota Camry – now too damaged to drive – exchanged insurance information, and made arrangements for a tow.
Hard to believe as it may be, witnesses say the saw two men shimmy out of the upside-down Subaru and try to run away.
Apparently, no one other than the involved drivers and passengers actually saw the collision. Deployed airbags prevented drivers seeing what hit them – the now upside-down Subaru Outback.
An officer continued the investigation until after 10:30 p.m. that evening.
Officers investigate this crash.
“One of the involved vehicles, a Subaru Outback, had been reported stolen,” Public Information Officer David Baer reported after looking at the police report.
“Officers detained a person who had run from the crash but nobody was able to definitively tell us he was the driver,” he continued.
“The detained person claimed to be the passenger; so, without any additional evidence, he had to be released at the scene.” Apparently, joy-riding in a stolen car is not an actionable offence, either.
© 2022 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™