MILWAUKIE, Oregon — A man has been arrested after stealing a delivery truck from a Milwaukie warehouse parking lot, Beaverton and Milwaukie police said.
According to the Beaverton Police Department, just after 4 a.m. on Friday, a man was seen on surveillance video stealing the Elephants Delicatessen truck on the 2600 block of Southeast Mailwell Street. The suspect was identified as 29-year-old Forrest Lee Guayante of Aberdeen, Wash.
At the time, workers were loading up the truck, with an Elephants Delicatessen employee, Esmeralda, in the back of the truck and loading up her deliveries for the day when the suspect took off — and hung on for the ride.
"It (the truck) started moving even faster and then that's when I started to hold on to whatever I could I hold on to," she recalled. "He slowed down for a bit before hitting the railroad tracks, and so, I jumped off."
She told KGW she got a few bruises but nothing too major.
Around 12:15 p.m., Elephants Delicatessen employees tracked the truck using an air tag to a parking lot in Beaverton near Southwest Walker Road and Southwest Cedar Hill Boulevard. Employees called police, who found the truck with Guayante inside, near the intersection of Southwest Gem Lane and Southwest Cedar Hills Boulevard.
Guayante rammed a Beaverton police vehicle and tried to drive off in the stolen truck. Guayante then hit heavy traffic and ended up trying to escape on foot, running through business parking lots and neighborhood yards, with police deploying a K9 to track Guayante, police added.
Guayante was arrested and booked into the Washington County Jail on multiple charges, including unauthorized use of a motor vehicle; reckless endangering; attempt to elude, a felony; hit and run; and unlawful possession of methamphetamine. Milwaukie Police Department will be adding charges of unauthorized use of a vehicle, kidnapping, criminal mischief, theft and fraudulent use of a credit card to the Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office.