Miles-long Gresham police pursuit ends in Portland

See what it took to get these suspects to stop …

The event, said to have involved gangsters with guns, began at this Gresham fast-food restaurant.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

A disturbance, reportedly involving a handgun, that stared at a Dairy Queen in Gresham at SE 174^th Avenue and Division Street, ended up 87 blocks west of there on the evening of October 11, at about 7:45 p.m.

Gresham Police Department (GPD) officers began following a silver four-door sedan as it traveled west along Division Street.

According to police radio calls, the car picked up speed, at times traveling as fast as 85 miles per hour as it rolled west into the City of Portland.

Portland Police Bureau officers join in the pursuit.

9-1-1 dispatchers assigned additional squad cars to the pursuit; eventually 22 units, many of them assigned to the Portland Police Bureau, were involved.

“Good spike!” called out an officer on the radio. “Good spike near I-205”, he said – indicating that a spike strip had been successfully deployed as the vehicle continued west on SE Division Street.

Tires flattened by a “spike strip” bring this car to a stop in outer East Portland.

Finally the car, with flattened front tires, came to a stop just east of SE 87^th Avenue. With their guns drawn, police surrounded the car and the suspects exited the vehicle.

However, it soon became clear that none of the suspects in the car had a gun. While an officer searched the vehicle, others began backtracking, looking for locations where the suspects might have ditched one.

Portland officers inspect the car, after suspects are taken into custody.

Repeated calls to the PIO at the Gresham Police Department have gone unanswered, so the exact nature of this pursuit and the arrests remain undisclosed.

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