Grants Pass, Ore. – Two Grants Pass schools were placed on precautionary lock-out Wednesday during a search for two suspects who ran from police.
According to the Grants Pass Department of Public Safety, at around 10:00 a.m. dispatchers were told a reckless driver was on Williams Highway headed toward Grants Pass. The vehicle was determined to be stolen out of Brookings.
Police said they tried to stop the vehicle, but it took off at a high rate of speed with the driver showing no regard for public safety.
Out of an abundance of caution and due to heavy traffic, the pursuit was terminated by officers near M Street and the Grants Pass Parkway.
GPDPS said the stolen vehicle was eventually found in the parking lot of Riverside Elementary School.
Both Riverside Elementary and Gladiola Alternative Schools were put on a “lock-out” as officers canvassed the area for the vehicle’s occupants.
Police said at around 3:15 p.m., an officer saw a man and a woman near the Gladiola School. They both ran, but the officer was able to detain the woman.
The man was able to jump over fences and elude officers. He wasn’t located until 5:21 p.m. when a citizen called with a report of man in a tree near where the subject of the search was last seen, according to police.
Officers said they set up a perimeter around the area and conducted an extensive search of properties including outbuildings, recreational vehicles and vegetation.
The man was finally found hiding behind a wall.
He was identified by police as 31-year-old David James Rhodes. The woman was identified as 26-year-old Autumn Lee Delgado. Both are reportedly residents of the Smith River, California area.
Rhodes’ charges include unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, elude, reckless driving and possession of methamphetamine.
Delgado was determined to have a warrant out of Del Norte County.
Anyone with additional information about this incident is asked to call the Grants Pass Department of Public Safety at 541-450-6260.
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