PORTLAND, Ore. — A reckless driver smashed into multiple cars on Southwest Pacific Highway in Tigard, injuring two people, before being held down and arrested Wednesday evening.
According to the Tigard Police Department, patrol officers responded to Highway 99W near Southwest 78th Avenue for reports of a crash just after 5:30 p.m. Witnesses said that the driver of a pickup truck was driving erratically and ran a red light, hitting multiple cars before coming to a stop.
Officers learned that the driver hit five cars along 99W southbound before hitting a sixth at the intersection with Southwest 78th Avenue, wrecking both the other car and his own pickup.
But the crash wasn't the end of the ordeal: Witnesses said that the driver of the pickup, later identified as 43-year-old David Rudge, emerged from the truck armed with a knife. An off-duty Lake Oswego police officer happened to be nearby. The off-duty officer and multiple witnesses teamed up to grapple Rudge and hold him down until Tigard police could arrive and take him into custody.
Two people in the car that Rudge allegedly struck in the intersection were taken to the hospital but are expected to survive. Police shut down 99W southbound during the response and investigation.
Tigard police later learned that Rudge had eluded police in Lake Oswego earlier in the day at roughly 4 p.m. He was booked on a laundry list of charges, including multiple counts of vehicular assault, hit and run, vehicle injury charges, reckless driving and several counts of criminal mischief.
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