MILWAUKIE, Ore. — An alleged drunk driver crashed into a Milwaukie Police Department SUV early Wednesday morning while four officers stood nearby arresting an unrelated suspect. Body camera footage released by the department shows the crash from multiple angles.
The driver, Jeffery Michael Bertsch, 31, was first taken to a hospital and then arrested and booked in Clackamas County jail on charges of Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants, Reckless Driving and four counts of Recklessly Endangering. Police did not say if he was injured in the crash.
The incident happened at around 2 a.m., according to a news release from the police department. The officers had responded to Southeast Linwood Avenue near Southeast Montgomery Drive when a resident reported an unknown person in their backyard. The officers used a thermal camera on a drone to find the suspect and arrested them without incident.
One of the officers had parked their marked police SUV in the northbound lane of Linwood Avenue with its parking and emergency lights on to warn passing drivers. There was no one inside the SUV at the time, police said, but the officers were standing next to it in the midst of processing the suspect when a Chevrolet Camaro crashed into it.
The body camera videos show the group standing at the edge of a driveway with the suspect handcuffed and two officers standing to either side and a third just behind. A fourth officer standing further up the driveway begins to say, "uh, step back, step back," and one of the others then yells, "stand back guys, stand back," as they all begin to move away from the SUV.
A black car with its lights off can be seen approaching on the road, and it hits the rear left corner of the SUV about three seconds after the first officer begins warning the others. The SUV is pushed forward several feet and hits a mailbox post next to the driveway. The back end of the Camaro spins sideways 90 degrees and it comes to a stop in the middle of the road.
One of the officers yells something that has been bleeped out of the videos, and then all three camera perspectives shift away from the crash and toward the original suspect, who appears to be lurching to one side. The news release said the suspect was "emotionally affected by the incident" and was later placed on a Behavioral Health Hold and taken to a hospital in lieu of being arrested.
The Camaro wasn't speeding, according to the news release, but it didn't have its lights on and didn't slow down as it approached the SUV. The videos appear to show the Camaro attempting to swerve to the left side of the SUV just before impact, but it's not entirely clear.
Clackamas County Sheriff's Office deputies arrived to assume control of the crash investigation. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the sheriff's office tip line at 503-723-4949 and reference Milwaukie police case number 24-000499 or CCSO case number 24-0001355.
String of similar incidents
Wednesday's crash marks the third case this week of an alleged drunk driver hitting a police or government agency vehicle along a road in the Portland metro area. In both of the other cases, the drivers were arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of intoxicants.
The Washington State Department of Transportation reported that a suspected drunk driver struck a work crew truck that was parked along Interstate 5 in Vancouver Sunday night for pothole repairs. The truck was pushed into a second parked crew truck, injuring six road workers. All six have since been released from the hospital and are recovering at home, the agency said.
And on Wednesday, Portland police reported that two officers had been injured when a suspected drunk driver hit their SUV on Interstate 205 in southeast Portland the night before. The officers had parked the SUV in one of the freeway lanes with its emergency lights on to make space for a tow truck that was hooking up another vehicle. The officers were hospitalized but released the following morning, police said.