Tow truck driver arrested after Lents neighborhood hit-runs (OR)

[TowNews]

 

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The driver of a tow truck was arrested Thursday in Southeast Portland after hitting multiple vehicles and refusing to surrender to police, authorities said.

 

Officers were called out to the 6200 block of SE 97th Avenue just before noon. They learned someone had fired a gun at a vehicle involved in a nearby crash and that other hit-and-runs to vehicles were happening in the Lents neighborhood, Portland police said.

 

The person who allegedly fired the gun was detained but has not been charged with a crime. No one was hurt.

Officers found the suspected hit-and-run vehicle — a yellow tow truck — but the driver took off when officers tried to stop it. Police later found the truck at SE 92nd Avenue and SE Woodstock Boulevard and officers used their patrol vehicles to box it in.

 

Police said the driver at first refused to get out of the truck when told to do so and held a knife to his throat while taunting officers. Officers with the Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team were called but officers at the scene were able to convince the driver to put the knife down and surrender before they arrived.

 

Dolphus M. Creer Jr. of Portland was arrested and booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center. The 30-year-old is facing numerous charges, including three counts of first-degree attempted assault, two counts of second-degree attempted assault and three counts of violating a restraining order.

 

Creer is accused of violating a restraining order protecting a family member on Wednesday.

 

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