A 47-year-old man abandoned his Ford F-350 with the driver's door open and the engine still running after leading an Oregon State Police trooper on a chase that reached 40 mph over the posted speed limit on Highway 26 in Sandy, then ran into a rural property and hid in tall brush and blackberry bushes until a K9 team and a drone found him. He was arrested on charges of attempt to elude and reckless driving without further incident, according to the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office.
The chase began when the driver failed to stop for a trooper attempting a traffic stop on Highway 26, according to a Clackamas County Sheriff's Office post on Facebook. The corridor is a primary arterial route linking the Portland metro area to Mount Hood, and its high traffic volumes and frequent speeding regularly prompt multi-agency safety enforcement, according to the City of Sandy. Rather than stop, the driver escaped down an auxiliary road leading to a private driveway, eventually cutting through multiple properties in the rural and residential area before ditching the truck.
Truck Found Abandoned Near a Privacy Gate
Deputies located the F-350 abandoned behind an adjacent neighbor's property on Cherryville Drive, about 60 yards from a privacy gate, the sheriff's office post says. Responding troopers also found a revolver on the truck's floorboard. Oregon law generally requires that a handgun kept in a vehicle's passenger compartment without a valid concealed handgun license be locked up or stored outside the passenger area, according to Romano Law, meaning the firearm's discovery could carry its own legal exposure beyond the driving charges — though it remains for the Clackamas County District Attorney's Office to determine whether additional charges are filed.
With the driver now on foot, Sandy Police Department responded to assist with containment during the search, the sheriff's office reported. Smaller municipal departments in eastern Clackamas County routinely coordinate with sheriff's deputies and state troopers during searches for fleeing drivers under established mutual aid protocols, according to Clackamas County 911.
K9 Murphy and a Drone Close In
The break in the search came when K9 Murphy and a drone team spotted the suspect hiding in the tall brush and blackberry bushes. Murphy, a German Shepherd who specializes in patrol work, was born in Germany in 2021 and joined the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office patrol unit in 2024, according to the sheriff's office's Facebook page. Once he was spotted, the suspect surrendered.
Sheriff's office drone teams routinely assist municipal police agencies searching for suspects who abandon vehicles and flee into dense terrain, according to the City of Oregon City. Clackamas Search & Rescue, established in 2020 as a division of the sheriff's office, maintains drone operations and canine units specifically trained to locate people hiding in overgrown vegetation like rural blackberry thickets, with volunteers and law enforcement professionals undergoing monthly proficiency training for that kind of wilderness tracking.
What Charges Could Follow
Attempt to elude police while driving a vehicle is a Class C felony under Oregon Revised Statutes § 811.540, carrying a maximum of five years in prison and fines up to $125,000 — distinct from on-foot elusion, which is charged as a misdemeanor. Reckless driving, meanwhile, is a Class A misdemeanor under ORS 811.140 punishable by up to 364 days in jail, fines up to $6,250, and mandatory license suspension. Driving 40 mph over the posted limit substantially exceeds an ordinary traffic violation and helps meet the “conscious disregard” standard needed to prove reckless driving in Oregon, according to the Kind Law Group.
If the driver is ultimately convicted of felony elusion, Oregon law also mandates an automatic administrative license suspension through the Department of Transportation under ORS 809.411, separate from any sentence a court imposes. Whether prosecutors will pursue additional charges tied to the revolver found on the floorboard has not yet been determined, and formal charging documents from the Clackamas County District Attorney's Office would clarify the full scope of the case.
