PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Authorities are searching for an attempted murder suspect who escaped from a temporary holding cell and ran out of police headquarters in downtown Portland.
Police arrested David Dahlen, 24, on Saturday on suspicion of ramming a stolen pickup into an officer on Christmas Eve, The Oregonian reported. He escaped from a locking room at the Police Bureau’s detective division while awaiting questioning.
Officer Kevin Allen, a police spokesman, said officers have not yet figured out how Dahlen escaped but described it as “unprecedented” in the bureau’s recent history. Bureau members secured the building after they discovered that Dahlen had escaped, and surveillance video showed him running away.
Police did not provide an update Sunday morning.
Dahlen is suspected of driving into Portland police Officer Jennifer Pierce, who was hospitalized with a fractured pelvis.
When officers tried to box in the stolen truck at a gas station, the driver rammed into Pierce as she stood outside of her car, according to witnesses. Pierce was pinned between the truck and her patrol car. The pickup then backed up and drove forward, striking her again.
Pierce fired her gun at the truck after she was struck a second time. The pickup, which had been stolen from a Portland auto shop, was found abandoned about an hour after the police confrontation.
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