A vehicle pursuit that started in Springfield ended near the UO campus last night, and a suspect is still at large, police said.
Ryan Bird, 31, is wanted by Springfield police after leading SPD on a roughly 15-minute car chase. The pursuit ended on 16th and Ferry in Eugene late Saturday night (Photo courtesy of the Springfield Police Department).
Ryan Bird, 31, fled police in a stolen, silver Subaru Forester at 10:23 p.m. on Saturday, Springfield Police Department Sgt. Michael McCarthy said.
SPD initially stopped Bird near Pioneer Parkway and Hayden Bridge Road after noticing that his license plate was bent and unreadable. Once they approached the vehicle, which they later realized was stolen, the man fled.
Bird led police along Beltline Road before he took an exit on Interstate 105. After exiting toward Coburg Road, he eventually ended up near the UO campus. Once the pursuit arrived near campus, police lost sight of the vehicle momentarily.
“[Police] didn’t want to go full speed near the campus area,” Sgt. McCarthy said.
Students in the area pointed police in the right direction, McCarthy said. Officers eventually found the vehicle parked between two other cars on 16th Avenue and Ferry Road. When police approached the car, Bird then left the vehicle and fled on foot.
Roughly 15 minutes after the chase began in Springfield, SPD then called in K-9 units to search, but they lost his scent because of the number of people in the area, McCarthy said. The Eugene Police Department and UOPD also helped with the search.
At this time, Bird is wanted by police, who said he is not an immediate threat to the public.
Here is a rough estimate of the route last night’s pursuit took:
