The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office is still looking for the driver of a truck that sped away from a traffic stop Tuesday, prompting two-hour, multi-agency search near Redmond.
A passenger in the truck was cited and released.
Sgt. Troy Gotchy said the incident started around 1:52 Wednesday afternoon when a deputy tried to stop a reckless driver that nearly struck her patrol vehicle on Northwest Way.
The suspect vehicle turned west onto Coyner Avenue from Northwest Way, and continued at a high rate of speed, Gotchy said.
The suspect refused to stop for the deputy and continued into the Tetherow Crossing neighborhood northwest of Redmond where the suspect temporarily lost the deputy.
Gotchy said the deputy spotted fresh tracks going into an address on NW 61st, and found the truck parked behind the shop on the property.
The deputy waited to approach the vehicle until more units arrived.
A K9 unit with the Redmond Police Department arrived on the scene, and the truck was cleared. The driver and passenger had run away from the scene.
A drone was brought to the scene by the Redmond Police Department, and they also began a search of the area.
Later, a neighbor to the north of the stop location told a Redmond Police officer that an unknown male had run through their property and continued north over their fence.
A Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office K9 then took over the search for the suspect and continued to follow it north along the top of a rimrock ridge.
The search lasted nearly two hours before a suspect that was being followed walked out of BLM land at Coyner Avenue and Hemholtz.
The man was detained by a deputy that was sitting in the area on the perimeter. The suspect, 35-year-old Ryan Rowe of Redmond was determined to be the passenger in the truck, and was cited for attempting to elude and criminal trespass.
The driver of the truck, a red, 1991 Ford F150 truck, was not found.
