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WANTED MAN SHOT DEAD
by KATIE WILLSON

http://www.newsregister.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=200253

Local officers shot and killed a fleeing auto theft
suspect after he allegedly capped an hours-long
chase through the foothills above Sheridan by trying
to run them over. Shortly before noon this morning,
District Attorney Brad Berry identified him as Martin
Anthony George, 36, of Grand Ronde, saying officers
had just confirmed a tentative identification.
The Oregon Judicial Information Network lists a
long series of convictions for George, including
one five years ago for first-degree robbery. In
addition to the robbery conviction, it lists Polk and
Yamhill County convictions for burglary, resisting
arrest, domestic assault, criminal mischief, harassment,
disorderly conduct, attempted first- and second
degree assault, driving under the influence and
driving while suspended.
Sheriff's Deputy Derrin Broome was injured during the pursuit when he hit a slick
patch of road and ran his patrol car into a ditch, totaling it. Though his air bag
deployed, he was transported to Willamette Valley Medical Center for treatment of
minor injuries.
Berry said two officers were involved in the shooting: Sheriff's Deputy Richard E.
Geist and Trooper Randy L. Ogle of the Oregon State Police. Geist, 37, has been a
police officer since 1997 and a deputy sheriff since 2000. Ogle, 35, has been a state
trooper in the McMinnville office of the OSP since 1999.
Sheriff's Lt. Paul May, who handled information release Monday night, said the
shooting occurred after officers located the suspect, who had eluded them earlier, on
a long, gravel driveway. When the man responded by trying to run them over, he said,
a deputy and trooper opened fire, killing him.
Sheriff Jack Crabtree said both men were seasoned officers. He said the county's
Major Crimes Response Team had been called to handle the investigation.
The shooting occurred on the long gravel driveway leading into the 300-acre Togstad
Ranch, located at 19181 S.W. Rock Creek Road. It is owned by the family of Jon
Togstad, proprietor of Jon's Auto in Sheridan.
The News-Register learned the location from Patti Montgomery, caregiver for Togstad's
father. She witnessed the shooting and provided a first-person account.
Montgomery said a friend called the auto shop Monday afternoon to tell Togstad a
wanted felon was on the loose near the ranch. He called the ranch to warn her at
exactly 3:04 p.m.
"I remember because I looked at the phone," she said. "Then I called the lady who
lives on our property. We have 300 acres. Anyhow, I called and she didn't answer."
After leaving a message for the ranch tenant, Montgomery went to lock the front door.
As she did, she looked out the front window and saw the tenant at the end of the
driveway talking to a man in a mud-spattered vehicle.
Montgomery walked outside and began calling to the woman.
She said, "I yelled up to her to say I needed to talk to her. I kept yelling to her,
and she started to walk toward me."
As the woman neared the house, the man climbed into his car and began backing toward
them. When Montgomery told her about the warning call, she exclaimed, "Oh, my gosh.
That was him I was talking to."
Montgomery said, "He was backing up toward us." So the women ran into the house to
call 911.
Just then, Montgomery said, a patrol car drove into view, and she could see other
patrol cars approaching from behind. The suspect then reversed course and began
moving toward them.
"They jumped out of their cars, and the officers had their pistols out," she said.
"They yelled at him to stop, don't move but the car kept moving."
She said the officers opened fire. The car kept going, but left the driveway and
rolled down an embankment into some trees.
"We were running into the house," she said. "We saw the shots, the smoke out of the
guns. Then a lot more police came."
Montgomery said the man had introduced himself to the Togstad Ranch tenant and shaken
her hand.
He said he had come over the hills, carving his own trail, and his car was the worse
for the wear.
He said it needed a good washing, but that wouldn't be enough. He would also have to
repaint it.
The tenant asked if he lived in a cabin nearby. He said he didn't, that he was from
out of the area.
She spoke briefly with the News-Register, but said she was too upset to tell her
story in person. She felt badly for the man who had been killed, she said, and
couldn't stop crying.
Deadly police shootings are very rare in Yamhill County.
In the early 1970s, then-deputy Lee Vasquez shot a murder suspect during a struggle
in the Yamhill County Courthouse. The man later died of his injuries.
Vasquez was elected sheriff in the 1980s. He retired from that job after two terms
and now works as a law enforcement consultant.
In 1977, Terry McKnight, then chief of a joint Yamhill-Carlton police force, shot a
murder suspect at point-blank range with a .45 automatic. The bullet passed through
an extensive stretch of the man's body, killing him instantly, and lodged in the
bulletproof vest of then-deputy Maurie Hantz.
The 300-pound suspect had wrestled wiry, slightly built Hantz to the ground and was
trying to pull Hantz's service revolver, when McKnight ran up and fired. The shooting
was upheld in a two-day inquest conducted by then-district attorney John Collins, now
presiding circuit court judge.
Hantz later spent many years with the McMinnville Police Department. He is now
retired
In 1989, Sheriff's Sgt. John Kowolik was involved in a stand-off with an armed man in
the hills near Newberg. When the suspect raised his gun toward officers, Kowolik shot
him once.
The man died at the scene. Kowolik still works for the sheriff's office.
Officers involved in shootings are routinely placed on administrative leave. That
gives them time to recover and other officers time to conduct a thorough
investigation.
— Reporters Starla Pointer and Nicole Montesano contributed to this story

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I intend to last long enough to put out of business all *****-suckers
and other beneficiaries of the institutionalized slavery and genocide.

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"The army that will defeat terrorism doesn't wear uniforms, or drive
Humvees, or calls in air-strikes. It doesn't have a high command, or
high security, or a high budget. The army that can defeat terrorism
does battle quietly, clearing minefields and vaccinating children. It
undermines military dictatorships and military lobbyists. It subverts
sweatshops and special interests.Where people feel powerless, it
helps them organize for change, and where people are powerful, it
reminds them of their responsibility." ~~~~ Author Unknown ~~~~
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