The Oregonian
December 25, 2009, 9:50AM
Portland Police BureauDorian Day, 30. A 30-year-old man has been arrested and accused of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle in connection with the theft of a Portland police patrol car taken on a joy ride Thursday night.
The driver sped along Southeast Water Avenue, jumping curbs and smashing into a street light before the vehicle came to rest on a busted front left tire just south of OMSI.
Portland police arrested Dorian Day. He was also accused of driving while under the influence, reckless driving, hit and run and first-degree criminal mischief.
The incident began about 7:50 p.m. when police were called to a disturbance in the area of Southeast Water Avenue and Morrison Street, where a group of about 20 transients were fighting. When an officer apparently stepped away from his patrol car to try to calm the crowd, one of the suspects got in the car and took off.
It appears that the officer left the car running, said Detective Mary Wheat, police spokeswoman.
The stolen police car raced south along Southeast Water Avenue.
Witness Robyn McCracken, who had come to see the Polar Express IMAX film at OMSI earlier in the night, was seated in her broken-down white Lincoln Town Car in the museum's east parking lot when she saw the police car speeding towards her.
"It came around the corner. It hit up on the curb, then down off the curb, then up on the curb and down off it. It knocked down the street light, and finally skidded over the curb again,'' McCracken said. "I thought it was just someone taking the curb too fast.''
McCracken estimated that the patrol car was traveling about 40 mph in the 20 mph zone.
She had no idea it was stolen, until she saw a man, not in uniform, exit the driver's side, just southeast of the museum.
"He got out of the car kinda slow,'' she said. Then, she saw him run behind OMSI.
Officers took to their feet looking for the thief and called in a police dog to help. Meanwhile, supervisors reminded officers over the police radio to lock their cars.
Officers cordoned off the wreckage, including a street light lying in the middle of the road behind the recovered, but damaged patrol car. Supervisors asked that the officers make sure all the equipment in the vehicle was accounted for.
Somewhat stunned by the course of events on Christmas Eve, Central Precinct Sgt. Tim Sessions quipped, "It's suppose to be a quiet night.''
This is the second Portland police car stolen this month. An unmarked police car was taken Dec. 3 from outside the Damascus home of an on-call Portland police officer, who had left the car running to warm it up as the officer went back inside to get his child. The 2007 Chevy Impala was recovered in Clackamas County.
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