A suspect in a stolen vehicle led Vancouver police on a chase Thursday into Portland, where officers arrested the man after he crashed.
The incident started around 11:30 a.m. when an officer located an occupied, stolen vehicle in the parking lot of Fred Meyer, 11325 S.E. Mill Plain Blvd.
The officer who spotted the car requested backup. The driver took off after noticing police, colliding with someone’s car and then a police vehicle in the process, Vancouver Police Department spokeswoman Kim Kapp said in an email.
The suspect is reported to have struck the police vehicle at a high rate of speed and then traveled south on Interstate 205, according to emergency radio traffic monitored at The Columbian.
There were no reports of injuries from the hit-and-runs, Kapp said.
According to radio traffic, the chase reached speeds of 95 mph. Officers continued to chase the suspect’s vehicle over the Interstate 205 Bridge and into Portland, where the suspect and at least three pursuing officers hit heavy traffic.
The suspect used the shoulder of the road and continued fleeing, however. The chase continued onto surface streets in east Portland.
The suspect, identified as 26-year-old Fernando Villanueva, took the Foster Road exit and ended up crashing into two vehicles just west of Southeast 92nd Street, Portland Police Bureau Officer Derek Carmon said.
Villanueva was taken to a hospital; Carmon did not have information about the extent of Villanueva’s injuries.
Two occupants in one of the vehicles that Villanueva allegedly struck also went to the hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.
Villanueva was arrested on suspicion of unlawful use of a motor vehicle, attempting to elude, second-degree criminal mischief and reckless driving, according to Portland police.
