La Grande Driver Arrested on DUII, Three Hit-and-Run Counts After Crash

La Grande police arrested 63-year-old Thomas Gowin after a crash on Washington Avenue that damaged three parked vehicles and caused "thousands of dollars in damage," authorities reported. Gowin faces charges of DUII and three counts of Hit & Run with Property Damage following the incident.

"On March 3 at approximately 3:52 PM, LGPD received a report of a three-vehicle crash on Washington Avenue. Officers responded immediately and made contact with a witness who had observed the incident. The witness was able to provide a description of the suspect and the suspect vehicle, identified as a white Jeep," the La Grande Police Department said in a statement released to local outlets.

Officers located the suspect vehicle on scene and contacted the driver, who was seated behind the wheel and cooperative with police. Local reporting identified the driver as Thomas Gowin, 63, of La Grande. Elkhornmediagroup reported that Gowin "admitted to consuming alcoholic beverages and stated he had taken 'psychotic medications.'"

Investigators conducted a consent search of the white Jeep while officers gathered witness information. "During a consent search of the vehicle, officers also located drug paraphernalia," the local report said. Police allege the vehicle struck three parked cars on Washington Avenue; prosecutors have charged Gowin with three counts of Hit & Run with Property Damage in addition to the DUII count.

The initial incident description from LGPD called it a three-vehicle crash, while subsequent reporting specified the three struck vehicles were parked, a detail that remains part of the department's investigation. Damage from the collisions was estimated in reporting as "thousands of dollars in damage," though no formal damage estimate or repair totals were provided in the released material.

The reports available do not include information about injuries to drivers, passengers, or pedestrians, and they do not list any breath or blood test results or booking and bail details for Gowin. Local outlets that published the LGPD statement dated their stories March 6, 2026, summarizing the department's account of the March 3 incident.

Related law-enforcement items appearing in the same reporting pool are separate from the Gowin case. Those items include a Jan 4, 2023 report on a New Year’s Eve hit-and-run arrest of 24-year-old Kyle Elmer in Island City, a Union County Sheriff’s Office post detailing the arrest of Cody Trace Hamlin on a felony warrant after a pursuit, a sheriff’s office notice that weathered human skeletal remains were found outside La Grande and referred to the Major Crimes Team and the Oregon State Crime Lab, and a Union County Drug Task Force release on arrests of Scott Everett Mann and Steven Everett Mann on multiple drug charges. Each of those incidents is distinct from the March 3 Washington Avenue crash.

The La Grande Police Department provided the initial incident details and witness description to local news outlets; further records such as the official LGPD incident report, toxicology results, and precise damage estimates would clarify unresolved aspects of the case.