PORTLAND, Ore. — Police have identified a suspect accused of stealing a car with a young child inside on Feb. 25. In a news release on Saturday, Portland police said 40-year-old Justin Hill is facing multiple charges including kidnapping in the second degree.
Community members chased and detained Hill, according to the Portland Police Bureau (PPB), until officers arrived and arrested the suspect.
Just after 8 a.m. Friday, a woman called police and said her car had been stolen from the 4000 block of Northeast 16th Avenue, in the Sabin neighborhood. She told dispatchers someone had jumped in her running car and driven away with her 3-year-old son in the back seat, according to PPB.
The boy's father, who was also there, got in his car and followed the suspect to Northeast 21st Avenue and Multnomah Street, in Sullivan's Gulch just north of Interstate 84. The father crashed his car into the stolen vehicle and the suspect got out and ran away, police said.
After he got his son out of the car and found he was not hurt, the father told other people passing by what had happened, and they chased down the suspect as he fled on foot. Among them was T.P. Brown Jr. He pinned the suspect against a fence with his vehicle a few blocks away at Northeast 19th and Pacific, on the south side of I-84.
"I asked him to not move until the police came here," said Brown.
Brown said when the suspect tried to hop the fence anyway, he got out of his car and held him down as other community members showed up to help.
"The Amazon driver, I wish I knew his name," said Brown. "He got out of his truck with some rope and we began to tie him up and detain him until the police got here."
PPB said Hill was injured in the struggle and taken to the hospital. He was released Saturday afternoon and booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on charges of kidnapping in the second degree, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and failure to perform the duties of a driver.
In a news release on Saturday, PPB said the primary detective has learned that some people were taking pictures and/or video of the incident in the area of Northeast 21st Avenue and Multnomah Street. PPB said those images may be crucial evidence in the case. Anyone who took images is asked to contact Detective Chris Traynor at Christopher.Traynor@portlandoregon.gov or (503)823-0451.
Anyone who has information about this case and has not already talked to investigators is asked to e-mail crimetips@portlandoregon.gov and reference case number 22-52426.