PORTLAND, Ore. — Last Thursday, Jeff Worley was on a construction job in Southwest Portland. With so many vehicles coming in and out of the driveway that day, he decided to park his work pickup and trailer on the main road, but not far from where he could see it.
When the workday ended around 3 p.m., the 72-year-old headed up to his vehicle — but stopped in his tracks. A man standing by his truck suddenly broke in and climbed inside. Worley moved as fast as he could to try and intervene.
"I hear the truck start, and as soon as it started, he burned the tires through the dirt and gravel — my truck and trailer," he said. "My first thought was, 'I'm absolutely losing my life. This guy's taking my truck and every tool I own.' I stood right there in the street. He charged at me, slammed on the brakes, and hit me in the chest, with the hood of the truck."
Somehow, he wasn’t injured. Worley said the man in the driver's seat hollered at him to get out of the way before revving the engine and speeding off. He flagged down police in the neighborhood who tried to help. Worley believes that made a big difference.
"I really felt like he panicked because he saw these four policemen," he said. "He wasn’t even a mile and half away from where he stole it, which was a dead end. He got out of the truck, pulled the pin out of the receiver, and dropped the trailer on the ground."
That’s where the trailer turned up, a day later, in front of a home near the construction site.
Portland police found Worley's truck on Aug. 12, nearly two days after its disappearance, all the way up on North Midway Avenue in St. Johns. Officers reported the truck was on fire.
Worley said he loved the truck, which he said he's had for 23 years.
"It's never crossed my mind to get another truck," Worley said. "Its seats are tore up and it has a little oil problem, but I've never wanted another truck."
Now he's faced with finding another one. His family started a GoFundMe in hopes of raising enough money to make that happen.
Portland police haven't said whether they've identified a suspect or arrested the person responsible.