News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
According to the sheriff department's report, Sisters Police Chief Dave Haynes ordered Marshello to stop. Marshello allegedly did not comply and Haynes yelled at him asking what he was doing. According to police, Haynes believed Marshello was intoxicated and tried to detain him.
Marshello then allegedly revved his engine and attempted to flee. According to police, Haynes reached into the vehicle and grabbed Marshello, who accelerated, throwing Haynes away from the vehicle. The police chief suffered minor injuries to his hand.
According to police reports, Marshello then made a quick turn and fled south on Spruce Street with a sheriff's deputy in pursuit.
Marshello contacted The Nugget from Deschutes County Jail and stated that he fled the scene because he believed the police behaved in a threatening manner toward him and that his life might be in danger. He said he fled town to calm down.
According to sheriff's department reports, the pursuit of Marshello continued on roads around Sisters. At one point, police reported, Marshello drove into a ditch on Highway 242 near Cold Springs Road. Police reported that officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but Marshello got out of the ditch and drove onto Cold Springs Road, narrowly missing Lt. Greg Brown who had gotten out of his vehicle with a rifle intending to shoot out the Lincoln's tires.
Marshello allegedly drove back to Sisters with his lights out and entered the Gallery restaurant where police located him in a stall in the women's restroom.
Lt. Brown told The Nugget that the pursuit was conducted according to sheriff's department guidelines that dictate the number of units involved in a chase, the use of spike strips and circumstances where a pursuit is dangerous to the public and must be terminated.
"The bottom line is that any time you have a pursuit, it's dangerous," Brown said. "But on the other side of the coin, when somebody is driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, they're dangerous.
"The best thing you can do is to try to get him stopped before he hurts somebody," Brown said.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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