PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A man accused of ramming a Portland police officer while driving a stolen pickup on Christmas Eve — then later escaping custody — has been indicted on attempted murder and other charges.
David Dahlen III, 24, escaped a holding cell on the Portland Police Bureau’s detective floor in the downtown Multnomah County Justice Center, ran down a stairwell and out a door of the building Jan. 2. He was apprehended Jan. 8 in Southeast Portland.
Dahlen was indicted Tuesday on six felony charges and one misdemeanor, and he pleaded not guilty to the charges the next day, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. He remains jailed in the Multnomah County Detention Center.
He initially allegedly fled police on Dec. 24 after officers boxed in a stolen pickup he’s accused of driving in the lot of a gas station in Southeast Portland. Dahlen is accused of ramming the pickup into Officer Jennifer Pierce, who had stepped out of a patrol car, a witness said.
The driver of the stolen pickup then backed up and went forward again, hitting Pierce’s patrol car as it peeled out of the lot. Pierce fired at Dahlen and the truck, witnesses said.
Pierce was hospitalized for a pelvic fracture and has since been released from the hospital.