A man being taken to a hospital in Eugene, Oregon, broke a window and climbed out of a moving ambulance Thursday morning, beginning an encounter with police that would take him from the roadway to an apartment roof.
The Eugene Police Department was called at 9:31 a.m. October 22 to help with a disorderly medical transport at West 7th Avenue and Washington Street. Mid Valley Ambulance reported that the man had climbed onto the ambulance’s roof.
Additional callers described him climbing on top of several cars before running up the I-105 onramp. Police identified him as David Carter.
With Carter blocking traffic, officers approached. He jumped off the bridge, fell approximately 10 feet to the ground, and ran through Washington Jefferson Park.
Above Street Level
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After climbing a fence, Carter reached the second-floor roof of an apartment complex on Jefferson Street. Officers saw him on a ledge looking into apartment windows.
He initially refused to communicate with officers. Eventually, Carter agreed to come down if they provided a ladder.
Carter was taken to the hospital and cited in lieu of custody for disorderly conduct and second-degree criminal mischief.
On Paper
Under Oregon’s criminal mischief law, the second-degree offense is a Class A misdemeanor. One provision covers intentionally damaging another person’s property when the person has no right to do so and no reasonable grounds to believe otherwise. That provision does not set a minimum dollar amount for intentional damage.
The same statute also covers reckless damage exceeding $500 under the same lack-of-right condition. Another route to the second-degree offense involves tampering or interfering with someone else’s property, with intent to cause substantial inconvenience and without a right or reasonable belief in that right, when the resulting damage exceeds $500.
Oregon also provides a criminal citation process for misdemeanors and certain felonies eligible for misdemeanor treatment. A citation summons the person to court. Whether issued with or without a complaint, it must identify the court and specify when and where the person must appear. It also records the offense being charged and identifies the officer who issued it. State law also allows a single criminal citation to list more than one offense.
All parties are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.