Portland driver leads Oregon State Police chase, crashes near Cottage Grove

A Portland-area driver led Oregon State Police on a chase along Interstate 5 that ended near Cottage Grove when the truck crashed, the driver got out, and troopers used tasers to make the arrest. No one else was hurt, and the run on Lane County’s main freeway quickly turned into a roadside law-enforcement scene.

The pursuit began when a trooper tried to pull over a red Ford Ranger after it was flagged in an attempt-to-locate notice from the Portland area. The truck did not stop at first, then pulled onto the I-5 off-ramp at milepost 189. While the trooper waited for backup, the driver took off again, swerved into the grass, and hit the side of a patrol car before the truck rolled several times.

Dispatch logs put emergency personnel on southbound Interstate 5 near milepost 178 at 9:52 a.m., about 15 minutes after the first stop attempt at 9:37 a.m. When the truck came to rest, the driver got out and moved toward troopers, who tased him and took him into custody. KEZI reported the driver was taken to a hospital for minor injuries and an evaluation after the arrest.

The incident again showed how quickly a pursuit on I-5 can spill into a traffic problem for travelers between Eugene and Cottage Grove. Oregon State Police are charged by statute with enforcing highway laws and pursuing and apprehending offenders across Oregon, so chases on this corridor fall under the agency’s statewide authority rather than any local exception. A separate OSP pursuit-related rollover crash the day before shut down both southbound lanes near milepost 178.5, about 5 miles north of Cottage Grove, underscoring the risk to drivers, responders, and everyone caught behind the backup.