PORTLAND -- A Portland man claims a police officer ignored his request for help after reporting a robbery in progress.
"He told me, 'I'm off duty and you should call 911,'" said witness Rob Anderson. "We expect better."
The Portland Police Bureau announced Friday afternoon the officer involved had come forward to identify himself, but his name was not released.
"At least preliminarily, we have a real concern that one of our officers had information about a robbery and didn't respond," Lt. Robert King said Friday. "Obviously, that's very serious."
Anderson said he and his parents walked into Central Drugs, at Southwest 4th Avenue and Alder Street, Thursday afternoon. He said he immediately spotted employees with their arms raised and heard one person yell, "We are closed, we mean it, get out of here."
Anderson said that as he left the pharmacy he dialed 911, then he hung up after noticing a Portland police car about a block away. He told KGW he waved down the uniformed police officer.
"I said, 'Hey, there is a robbery or hostage situation going on down the block here, what can we do about that?'" Anderson said. "And he told me, 'I'm off duty, you should call 911.'"
Anderson said the officer then drove away.
Another witness told KGW that additional officers responded immediately as the suspect left the store. Jocelin Olson, 27, was jailed on one count of second-degree robbery.
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