(Photo © Jonathan Maus)
Just before noon today, police responded to tips about a blue Hummer H2 parked on the corner of SW Salmon and Broadway. The vehicle fit the description of the SUV that was involved in a road rage attack in Northwest Portland.
A reader named “BURR” left a comment about the vehicle just before 11:30 this morning. I rode over to the location to investigate and noticed the SUV parked at the NE corner of the intersection and a Portland Police squad car was already on the scene.
Just as the bike rider in Monday’s incident described, the Hummer had temporary plates (they were from “Vic Alfonso Cadillac Hummer”).
After several minutes of talking on his radio and peering into the SUV’s windows, Officer John Clinton (in photo above), told me he was running the information through the computer as per the ongoing investigation of Monday’s incident.
owner of the Hummer.
Clinton said since the case is not being treated as a felony assault (it’s an “assault 4” case), he is not able to tow away the vehicle without further evidence. At this point, he was writing up the vehicle for a parking violation and said he left his card on the vehicle’s window in hopes that the driver would call him back.
A few minutes later, the owner of the Hummer showed up. He and Officer Clinton had a brief conversation and then the vehicle owner paid up his parking time and returned to the building he was in.
Once the owner of the Hummer left, Officer Clinton updated me on the situation. He said the Hummer owner claims he is not the man they are looking for and that he was home with his family in Vancouver (WA) at the time of yesterday’s incident. Clinton said the man told him he was downtown visiting his lawyer.