On December 5, around 8 p.m., callers reported an intoxicated driver, who had had difficulty getting into his van and then drove away on River Road. Eugene Police officers began searching for the vehicle.
Officers and their sergeant were searching when reports came in about a van driving the wrong way on westbound Beltline Highway. The sergeant headed to that call and found the van, and saw it was the same van called in from River Road. He tried to catch the van, which was driving on Riverbend from Beltline, and then westbound on Harlow. The van narrowly avoided a collision with another vehicle on Harlow Road.
The sergeant initiated a traffic stop of the vehicle, but it accelerated and was swerving. For the safety of the public, the sergeant pinned the involved vehicle in the 2500 block of Gateway Loop. The driver, John Bernard Young, age 67, of Eugene was taken into custody without incident. Young was cited in lieu of custody for DUII, Reckless Driving, and Driving While Suspended (violation).
Case 21-19135