Police pursue woman accused of striking officer with car

Police from Portland and Vancouver chased a car across state lines Thursday afternoon in pursuit of a wanted fugitive from Oregon who is also a suspect in a hit-and-run assault of a Battle Ground police officer last week.

The suspect has been identified as Stephanie Janelle Forester, 29. She is 5-feet-7-inches tall, weighs 160 pounds, and has brown, blond and black hair. She has brown eyes and a colorful tattoo on her right forearm. She is considered to be a heavy methamphetamine user and is known to frequent places that offer video poker, according to a Portland Police Bureau news release.

She has several warrants for her arrest in Oregon.

The car that she was believed to be driving was chased by police to the area of Southeast 126th Avenue and Mill Plain Boulevard, where the driver fled. Police searched the area but were unable to locate the driver.

One 911 caller reported late Thursday afternoon seeing the woman driving north on Interstate 205 and another caller reported seeing her take the Mill Plain Boulevard exit.

No accidents resulted from the Thursday chase.

Last Saturday, Forester allegedly assaulted a Battle Ground police officer with her SUV. The incident occurred about 11:30 a.m. in the 2000 block of West Main Street. The officer was called to investigate a report of a man hitting a woman inside a silver Volkswagen SUV.

Instead, the woman jumped into the SUV and drove off. The police officer, whose name was not released, was struck in the hip and thigh area by the woman’s car, but did not require medical attention, the police department said.

The vehicle’s driver then fled into oncoming traffic and passed vehicles on the right, police allege. The driver allegedly tried to smash law-enforcement vehicles and other vehicles, before last being seen exiting onto Northeast 134th Street near Interstate 5/Interstate 205. Officers were unable to locate her.

Forester remained at large Thursday night, a 911 dispatcher said.