Suspected shoplifter just misses hitting bystanders before crashing into storefront in NE Portland
By Drew Marine
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PORTLAND, Oregon (KPTV) — Shards of glass and a boarded-up storefront are the remnants of a wild, dangerous scene at Gateway Shopping Center in northeast Portland on Friday.
“Freaking wild. It’s wild,” T-Mobile manager Robert Powers said.
The Portland Police Bureau said 40-year-old Nigel Davis shoplifted from Ross and when he tried getting away in a stolen car, T-Mobile employee Jacy Banco said a bystander blocked Davis in with a car, trying to stop him.
What happened next was chaotic.
“There was a lady actually standing in between both their cars so at the last second, she was able to get out of the way,” Banco said. “And then that’s when my coworker came out here and started filming it. He decided to come up on the curb and he drove right past our store amazingly and veered off and smacked into the vacant building over there and got out and decided to run.”
Banco’s coworker was nearly hit but was able to get out of the way.
After Davis ran off, police said he got onto a bus that wasn’t in service and they arrested him.
Powers said crazy things happen at that shopping center all the time, but this was especially shocking because the car missed their store by mere inches.
“I guess you know in 2022 we find ourselves really desensitized to these crazy things,” Powers said. “You see it on the news, you hear about it on the internet. I guess you never really think it’s going to be you. But you never know when you’re gonna be at your 9 to 5 and somebody’s just ramming a car into the business next to you.”
Both Banco and Powers said this is a good example of why it’s important not to step in and stop a crime but they’re glad no one was hurt.
“There was a split second where, when I came out here and saw the dude start running, I thought he was going to pull out a gun,” Banco said. “But, by the way he was moving, I could tell he didn’t have something. But you never know. Someone could have lost their life over some Ross clothes.”
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