A 49-year-old Portland man who led TriMet Transit Police on a high-speed run down Interstate 84 before crashing near the Lloyd District clock tower has been sentenced to probation rather than prison time. Steven Roll pleaded guilty to felony fleeing and eluding, felony identity theft, and misdemeanor criminal mischief, and a Multnomah County judge ordered him to complete 18 months of probation on each of those three charges, to run concurrently, plus an additional 60 months of probation for a separate methamphetamine possession conviction.
The case began in December, when a TriMet officer tried to stop Roll near NE 13th Avenue and Holladay Street after clocking two vehicles speeding on westbound I-84, with Roll's car estimated at nearly 120 mph, according to a Multnomah County Sheriff's Office news release. The officer also reported seeing a lit marijuana pipe in the passenger seat before Roll took off. Rather than chase him through city streets, Transit Police deployed a tire-deflating strip and declined to pursue further, per the sheriff's office account, but Roll crashed into a center median near the clock tower anyway, striking another car and a planter before trying to run from the scene. He was caught and informed he was under arrest for reckless driving, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive, whose reporting on the sentencing forms the bulk of what's known about how the case resolved in court.
A Dozen Charges Whittled Down to Three
Roll was initially booked on 12 counts, per the sheriff's office, but by the time the case reached court that number had grown to 13, according to the OregonLive report. In exchange for his guilty plea, the state agreed to drop nine of those 13 charges, including forgery, escape, reckless driving, and failure to perform the duties of a driver. Police reportedly found two IDs bearing other people's names inside Roll's car, and he was allegedly intoxicated at the time of the crash, though that allegation was addressed separately through a DUII charge that has been deferred until Friday, when Roll is expected to seek entry into a court diversion program.
Oregon law allows drivers with no DUII convictions in the past 15 years to seek a one-year diversion program that results in dismissal of the charge if the incident caused no physical injury or death, under Oregon Revised Statute 813.215. Whether Roll will be accepted into and successfully complete that program remains an open question. Separately, Roll's felony fleeing and eluding charge fell under Oregon Revised Statute 811.540, which classifies eluding police in a vehicle as a Class C felony carrying up to five years in prison and a $125,000 fine per count — meaning Roll had faced up to five years in prison on each felony charge before the judge opted for probation instead.
Judge Cites Progress in Treatment
Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Katharine von Ter Stegge, who handed down the sentence, commended Roll's work in a drug treatment program and told him she believed he was in a better place, according to OregonLive's account of the hearing. Von Ter Stegge was appointed to the bench in 2017 after previously serving as a senior assistant county attorney, state assistant attorney general, and Multnomah County deputy district attorney, per Ballotpedia. As part of the sentence, Roll was ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution to the driver whose car he struck and will lose his driver's license for one year. He also pleaded guilty to methamphetamine possession in a separate case, a charge that under Oregon's House Bill 4002 carries up to 180 days in jail and replaced the civil-violation approach established under 2020's Measure 110.
Roll's criminal history reportedly dates back to 1998 and includes prior charges for forgery and identity theft, along with multiple previous drug charges, according to the OregonLive report. He still faces up to 364 additional days on the pending misdemeanor charge tied to his DUII case, which won't be resolved until his diversion hearing.
Part of a Broader Pattern on Portland Streets
Roll's case fits into a pattern local police and transportation officials have been tracking closely. The Portland Bureau of Transportation's 2024 Deadly Traffic Crash Report found that excessive speeding was a factor in at least 48 percent of the city's traffic fatalities, with 71 percent of fatal crashes occurring on the city's High Crash Network corridors. TriMet's decision not to actively chase Roll reflects a broader shift toward tire-deflation devices and non-pursuit tactics that align with Portland's Vision Zero safety goals, aimed at reducing crash risk during high-speed police stops.
It's not the only recent case of its kind in the region. Hoodline reported in April on a 20-year-old driver who hit 115 mph in North Portland before fleeing on foot, and covered another incident in June involving spike strips deployed during a chase on Interstate 205. In July, Hoodline also reported on a driver who led police through nine Portland neighborhoods after being spotted smoking a drug pipe, ultimately stopped with a PIT maneuver — another case combining drug-impaired driving with an attempt to elude officers.
