Police pursued the second suspect’s van across the Ross Island Bridge from the west side and down McLoughlin on May 15th – until a perfect “PIT maneuver” stopped it sideways in the southbound lanes north of Holgate. The suspect then ran across the highway but was arrested in a nearby yard. (Courtesy of PPB)

Two notable arrests, each involving a large number of officers, occurred in the Brooklyn neighborhood in May. The bad guys might take note that Brooklyn is no safe haven for them.

The first arrest, late in the day on Wednesday, May 7, occurred near S.E. 13th Avenue and Haig Street, as ten Central Precinct officers, including a police dog team, converged there at 5:13 p.m.

“This incident actually started in South Portland, near S. Water Avenue and Caruthers Street, when an officer spotted a man whose description matched a person who had a outstanding warrant,” PPB Public Information Officer Terri Wallo Strauss told THE BEE. “Officers radioed other area officers, and they eventually caught up with the suspect after he drove across the Ross Island Bridge and fled on foot into the Brooklyn neighborhood.”

The next day, filling in more details, Portland Police spokesperson Sergeant Kevin Allen told us, “Specifically, an officer recognized a suspect from an armed robbery with a knife two weeks previously to this.”

The man officers arrested was 32-year-old Daniel Zamudio, who was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) that evening at 7:16 p.m., on the Class B Felony charge of Attempted Robbery in the First Degree – and Theft in the Second Degree, a Misdemeanor. (Within a week, Zamudio was released from the MCDC with no bail required, on his own recognizance – the judge trusting him to turn up for his trial.)

The second incident involved another police pursuit of a fleeing suspect across the Ross Island Bridge around 1 p.m. on Thursday, May 15th. The fleeing van turned south onto McLoughlin Boulevard, its tires already flattened by police spike strips, and numerous police followed – executing a perfect PIT maneuver to stop the van sideways across the highway north of Holgate Boulevard, as revealed in a video released to the media – a frame of which illustrates this article.

The suspect in the second incident jumped from his van and also fled on foot – across the busy northbound lanes of McLoughlin into the Brooklyn neighborhood – but officers found and arrested the driver in the backyard of a home on S.E. 11th Avenue.

He was identified as 26-year-old Jordan Abers, and he was booked on several charges, including trespassing, third-degree assault, and reckless driving. It did take some time for southbound McLoughlin Boulevard to clear for traffic after the incident.