WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ore. — If Washington County Sheriff's Deputy Brian Rogers has learned anything in his years in law enforcement it is this:
“It's not the same thing every day,” Rogers said. “You don't know what's going to happen. You don't know the opportunities that are presented to you. I think it’s incumbent on us to keep our eyes open to those opportunities.”
One of those opportunities came earlier this week when Rogers responded to a theft call at the Target near Beaverton Hillsdale Highway and Highway 217. The deputy said a bike, belonging to an employee with special needs, was stolen.
“Trying to get a description of the bicycle he was having a hard time communicating the description,” Rogers said. “He could really just tell me it was a gray bicycle so I said, well take me back to the bicycle department and show me a bike that looks like the bike you had.”
Rather than just adding that information to the police report and moving on with his day, Rogers wheeled the bike up to customer service and bought it for the employee.
“Why not?,” Rogers asked. “This is someone, this is his transportation. It seemed important to him and to see the ecstatic look on his face was pretty awesome.”
Rogers did not snap any photos of the encounter. He said that is not what it was about. In fact, the deputy's colleagues had to push him to even talk to KGW about the nice gesture.
“Brian was pretty humble about it,” Deputy David Huey said. “He was surprised we even knew about it and when we talked to him he asked how'd you even find out.”
“We don't do this for notoriety,” Rogers added. “That’s not why we do this job. Aside from the job, as people, we don't do stuff for notoriety, just do the right thing.”
Turns out Rogers is making a habit of just that.
Back in 2015 he was driving along Interstate 84 when he saw the car in front of him hit the jersey barrier. Rogers pulled alongside the car and noticed the driver was in the middle of a medical emergency. He used his car to stop the other one. He then busted out the window and helped the driver — a selfless act that years later he sums up like this.
“I missed my workout,” Rogers said about that day. “I got stuck there for a while.”
Just like he did at Target earlier this week, but Rogers does not mind it one bit.
“Doing this as a job, we're given an opportunity to make a difference in somebody's life,” he said. “That’s why we do it for me.”