Fading streaks of burned rubber marked the streets, several empty parking lots and cul de sacs in North Portland’s industrial district Saturday evening, when police set out to thwart a planned street racing event.
Portland police Sgt. Tom Namba turned onto North Marine Drive in an unmarked SUV to look for fresh signs of trouble.
Marine Drive, with its easy access to Interstates 5 and 205 and few nearby homes, has become a popular target for the deadly and disruptive events that can draw hundreds of people — and that police have at times said they lacked the resources to stop.
Namba radioed ahead to officers shortly after 6 p.m: “I’d like you to be enforcing speed regulations and looking for street racer cars that are assembling.”
About 30 Portland officers with two police airplanes – one from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office – joined Namba on Saturday’s mission to clamp down on two planned street racing events. They were dubbed “Swing into Easter” and “PDX is Everyone.”
However, the large crowds police were anticipating over the weekend never materialized. Instead, officers focused on individuals they said were driving recklessly.
Police arrested seven people, towed nine vehicles, seized four illegally possessed firearms and issued 32 citations, they said.
According to Namba, the Police Bureau hoped to send a message ahead of the summer that dangerous street racing won’t be tolerated in the city. He and Sgt. Mike Currier started the street takeover missions about 18 months ago as a project out of North Precinct.
The mission on Saturday likely marked his 20th, he said. But far more street takeover events have spread across Portland in recent years, and police have struggled to keep up. Two weeks ago, police said they did not have adequate resources to stop a takeover under the Morrison Bridge, for example.
Around 7:30 p.m., an officer in a police plane radioed that the driver of a white Audi coupe with no license plates had fled from officers at 80 to 100 mph in the Arbor Lodge neighborhood and nearly struck another driver head-on.
The driver abandoned the vehicle at the intersection of North Moore Avenue and Saratoga Street, then hopped a fence into the backyard of a home and hid in a shed. At least a dozen officers responded to the neighborhood as nearby residents watched.
“We know you’re in the backyard; this is Portland police,” one officer hailed, his voice drowned out by the barks of two police canines at the scene. “Come out with your hands up or force will be used against you.”
Police arrested the man – later identified as 43-year-old Ronald Sharma – on allegations of fleeing or attempting to elude an officer, delivery of cocaine, reckless driving, unlawful possession of cocaine and criminal trespass. According to a probable-cause affidavit, police found a 37-gram bag of what they presumed was cocaine on him, about $6,000 and a small scale in his car.
He had a warrant for his arrest in a 2023 Washington County case where he was charged with reckless driving and fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer.
The biggest activity of the night happened after police tried to stop a driver in an older silver Audi sedan with expired tags. The driver fled, and a sergeant ordered officers to stop following, after he drove into Vancouver. But when officers spotted the driver again hours later in Portland, they tracked him with the help of a police plane across state lines to Washington and back through Portland.
That started around 10 p.m., when two officers spotted the car and attempted to stop the driver on Interstate 5 by North Lombard Street. Namba turned on his lights and sirens as he and at least three other police vehicles began following the car, which was traveling in the HOV lane.
As officers approached, the driver of the Audi sedan took off at speeds of 90 to 100 mph and weaved in and out of interstate lanes as traffic became more congested.
The sedan driver took officers all the way to Vancouver, where Portland police deferred to local authorities. Namba turned back around and headed south on I-5, waiting on a shoulder to see if the car would return.
Capt. Chris Burley said in a briefing Sunday that Vancouver officers tried unsuccessfully to set up a spike strip to stop the driver. Instead, the sedan came back south on I-5 dragging the spikes with it.
The driver of the sedan then led officers through parts of Portland. He crossed the Fremont Bridge and headed west before later coming back over the Willamette River. He then went south on I-5 before heading east on Interstate 84.
“Talk about a wild goose chase,” Namba said.
The Audi – which had front bumper damage, no hood and one busted headlight – eventually made its way back to local roads. “That was his fatal error,” Namba said.
Police did not chase the Audi driver but officers spiked his tires at Northeast 102nd Avenue and Halsey Street, spokesperson Terri Wallo Strauss said.
The sedan slowed down as its tires lost air, Wallo Strauss said. Officers boxed in the sedan on Northeast 148th Avenue and Halsey Street. As many as 10 police cars arrived at the scene to arrest the driver on allegations of reckless endangerment, reckless driving and attempting to elude a police officer.
Burley said that police believe the driver – identified as 22-year-old Tyjon McCallum – is potentially a street takeover organizer.
Court records show he pleaded guilty to attempting to elude a police officer and two counts of reckless endangerment last month in a March 2 incident where he fled from an officer on a dirt bike.
Though no big event took place Saturday, police called the evening a win.
“Because of the actions of our officers throughout the night, I think that we were successful in deterring a street racing event from happening,” Burley said.
— Zaeem Shaikh covers the Portland Police Bureau and criminal justice issues for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach him at 503-221- 4323, [email protected] or on X @zaeemshake.
