Manhunt in Centennial leads to capture – and arrest

Here’s why a good part of this outer East Portland neighborhood, west of Lynchwood Park, saw a massive police response this week …

Neighborhood streets are blocked of by Portland Police cruisers in the Centennial neighborhood, as an hours-long manhunt takes place on a cold and rainy night.

Story and photo by David F. Ashton

Just after sunset, Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct officers were dispatched to assist another police agency on Friday, January 8. The location was around SE 166th Avenue and Haig Drive in the Centennial neighborhood.

The “agency” officers were assisting turned out to be the U.S. Marshals Service, who were looking for a wanted man.

After discovering that the individual – who was believed to be armed – had fled, the PPB also called out their Special Emergency Reaction Team (SERT) and Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT) to provide additional support.

The PPB’s Mobile Command Unit is set up in SE 162nd Avenue, as are the SERT and CNT Command Units.

The SERT and CNT rigs were parked along SE 162nd Avenue, just north of Powell Boulevard. However, the activity was focused in the residential blocks between Haig Drive and Bush Street, and from 165th to 168th avenues.

The Public Alerts system called residents in the area who had signed up for the free service, to advise them to stay locked in their homes as law enforcement searched the nearby blocks for the wanted subject.

Along between SE Haig Drive, officers are stationed to spot him, should the subject bolt from his hiding place.

East Precinct District officers use their car lights to illuminate the streets, while SERT and US Marshall’s Service officers search private yards.

The whine of PPB’s drones is heard high overhead.

It wasn’t long until a total of 32 PPB officers command staff were in the area, searching yard-by-yard, block-by-block, through the neighborhood.

Finally, about 1:15 a.m. early on January 9, the wanted subject was found hiding in a shed and was arrested without incident.

Should a kindly judge release him from custody, wouldn’t it be helpful for Centennial residents to see the MCDC booking photo of 25-year-old Zachary Jordan Drazner, who was hiding out their neighborhood? Sorry, you can’t view it because law enforcement agencies are forbidden to release mugshots prior to conviction under Oregon State law. CLICK HERE to learn more.

Taken into custody and arrested was 25-year-old Zachary Jordan Drazner, who was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on January 9 at 1:53 a.m.

At his arraignment later that day, Drazner it came out that Drazner was facing a mind-boggling total of FORTY charges, ranging from four Felony Fugitive warrants to other violations – including Theft, Reckless Endangerment, Possession of Cocaine, Stalking, Domestic Violence, Strangulation, Coercion, Assault, and on and on.

Currently, Drazner behind bars in the MCDC restricted by $10,000 in combined bail.

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