Photo from the scene courtesy of Washington County Sheriff’s Office
BANKS – Police are looking for a Timber resident who, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, nearly ran over a state trooper in Banks, struck the state trooper’s vehicle, and then sped away toward Seaside before apparently abandoning her vehicle along Highway 26.
The story begins in the Cedar Canyon Road area, near the Killin Wetlands at Killin Road.
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Just before 11 a.m. on Sunday morning, deputies with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to conduct a welfare check after a passing driver said they saw a person slumped over in the driver’s seat of a blue 1991 Geo Prism near the Killin Road and Cedar Canyon Road intersection between Banks and Hayward.
A short time later, the car was spotted by an Oregon State Police trooper in Banks, near Banks City Hall on Main Street.
The trooper attempted to get the woman — later identified by police as 25-year-old Aubri Jenkins, a Timber resident — out of the car, when Jenkins put the car in reverse, throwing the trooper to the ground as she drove backwards.
The trooper was not hit or injured, though Jenkins struck his vehicle’s front bumper, causing minor damage, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
After striking a parked truck, Jenkins allegedly fled north on Main Street/Highway 47 and then west on Highway 26 at about 80 miles per hour with the state trooper in pursuit before he terminated the chase due to Jenkins’ unsafe driving.
Multiple other drivers called to report Jenkins as she drive west, and deputies later found her vehicle near the 58,000 block of Highway 26.
Deputies did not locate Jenkins after a search of the area.
In addition to Sunday’s events, Jenkins is wanted on an unrelated felony warrant for a probation violation. Members of the public with any information are asked to call the non-emergency dispatch line at 503-629-0111.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
