Clackamas County Sheriff's Office / Sandy Incident Update

Clackamas County Sheriff's Office / Sandy Incident Update

September 8th, 2005 9:10 PM

Recapping the officer involved shooting that occurred earlier on SE 362nd, in Sandy:

A reported hit and run accident was reported on Bluff Road and involved a female victim who reported she was struck from the rear in her vehicle while driving on Bluff Road at approximately 1:30 PM.

This female victim of the hit and run was transported with non-life threatening injuries and later released from medical attention.

This reported suspect vehicle was then reported to have struck at least one additional vehicle at about this same point in time, in the same area. Investigators are attempting to determine if this suspect vehicle struck additional vehicles during this same time period.

Responding rescue was then alerted to a brush fire a short distance from the initial hit and run location. It was discovered this fire was the suspect vehicle, totally involved with fire, on the south side of the roadway on Bluff Road.

In addition, a male witness reports the suspect of this hit and run suspect vehicle physically assaulted this witness near the scene of this fire. This witness described this suspect as combative and may have been armed with a handgun in the woods.

While all of this activity was being addressed: A responding Sandy Police Officer and a Clackamas County Sheriffs Deputy responded to a report of a man running naked on SE 362; a short distance from the reported hit and run location on Bluff Road, the vehicle fire and assault location.

Both the Deputy and Sandy Officer confronted this naked, male subject on SE 362 in the middle of the roadway. This subject did not respond to the law enforcement commands and was out of control. Subsequently, both the Deputy and Sandy Officer utilized a non-lethal force, in the form of a Taser gun to gain control of this subject. This deployment of the Taser did not enable these law enforcement personnel to gain control of this subject. At one point, it is reported the suspect had maneuvered himself onto the top of the patrol vehicle at the scene. It was ultimately deemed necessary, by at least one of these officers [emphasis on at least one], to transition to lethal force and shoot the subject to reduce the threat imposed. This suspect died at the scene and this investigation is continuing.

Obviously, the scope of this investigation is very involved and covers a wide area the suspect had negotiated from beginning to end, over a 30 minute time period from beginning to end.

It is expected to take considerable time to contact and interview all the known witnesses at this time, and to adequately conduct a search of the area on foot. Which includes investigators canvassing the area for additional potential witnesses.

The Sheriffs Office is encouraging anyone with information related to this series of events to please contact the Clackamas County Sheriffs Office to report this critical information.

The deceased suspect has been fingerprinted, and additional efforts to identify this individual will continue appropriately.

Please recognize the enormous scope of this ongoing investigation, which is expected to continue into the coming weekend.

As is customary in these types of investigations, the law enforcement personnel involved will be provided with Administrative leave opportunities to enable them to decompress from this traumatic experience. The names of these personnel involved will be released at an appropriate point in time.

The community where this occurred can be assured the situation is under control and no addition threat to the citizens exists from this unfortunate incident.

An investigators debriefing is expected at around noon on Friday. Detective Strovink will provide any additional information which may come available as a result of this debriefing session.

Any additional information related to this investigation will be provided to the media in a timely fashion as received by this office. [end]

Contact Info: Jim Strovink, Acting Public Information Officer Pager:503-237-2643