Rude Awakening

By Sarah Hansell, Staff Writer -- hansell14@up.edu

Around 9:30 a.m. last Saturday, Scott Chia went to the Tyson Hall secure parking garage to find his passenger side front window shattered and his iPod, Global Positioning System and paperwork, including insurance papers, gone.

"When I unlocked my car it told me that the alarm had been set off, so I did a circle of my car and I noticed that the passenger window was broken out," Chia, a junior, said.

Public Safety was alerted of the incident when several students called in after hearing the gate crash open. They came to investigate just after 8:30 a.m.

Public Safety called the Portland Police, who arrived just before 10 a.m.

"Obviously that's the kind of event we want their assistance on," Burke-Sivers said.

The entire incident was caught on a security camera. The footage, which Public Safety handed over to the police, showed a white male wearing a black jacket, black pants and a black beanie. He was driving a stolen, late 90s to early 2000s four-door tan Honda with custom wheels and tinted windows, which may have had front end damage.

According to the footage, the suspect waited for someone to drive out of the parking garage, and then entered through the open gate. He pulled into a parking spot, looked around and then broke Chia's car window and took his belongings. However, he was deterred from any possible further activity by Chia's car alarm.

He exited through the closed gate at 45-50 mph, according to Burke-Sivers, effectively destroying it as well as causing enough noise to alert students that something was wrong.

"From what I heard, P-Safe said they showed up late to it because it wasn't my alarm going off or him entering," Chia said. "It was him running through the gate as he left."

Public Safety believes the incident may be tied to a string of recent car prowls. These include a car break-in Jan. 27 on the 6600 block of North McKenna Avenue, another break-in over the weekend of Jan. 20-22, where a car parked behind Kenna Hall was broken into and a car theft from an off-campus residence on Jan. 21, according to the UP Daily Crime and Fire Log.

"I don't think it's coincidence," Burke-Sivers said. "I think this person's done this in other places in Portland, and is working his way through Portland, and now he's here in North Portland."

However, Portland Police cannot confirm a link between the car prowls.

"Unfortunately there's a lot of prowlers in the area that pass through," Public Information Officer Sgt. PeteSimpson said. "It's hard to say if they're related."

Portland Police do not have enough evidence to follow up with the case, but if evidence is found that points to a link, the case may be investigated further.

"As much as we'd like to have every case followed up, we just can't do it," Simpson said. "We don't have the resources to follow up every individual case."

If the suspect is found, the University may be able to receive payment for the damage to the gate of the Tyson Hall parking garage.

"We would of course ask for restitution for the damage he did to University property," Burke-Sivers said.

Although the suspect has not been found, police did find the stolen vehicle he was driving and were able to recover Chia's belongings.

Chia has already replaced his window.

"With the help of two best friends, $80 and five hours later we replaced my window," Chia said.

The gate, however, will not be fixed for two to three weeks, according to Burke-Sivers. Until then, students' cars parked in the Tyson Hall garage will not be secured.

"That (gate) is custom-made for that space," Burke-Sivers said. "We don't have anything we can just throw in there temporarily."

The gate was recently broken from a vehicular accident about two months ago and had cost $5,000 to replace.

"I think the parking garage is stupid because half the year the doors have been left open and the gate's been broken, and we're paying extra for (it)," Chia said. "So it's almost worse because a thief would want to go after a car in a secure parking lot. Yet it hasn't been secure for the majority of the semester."

Public Safety has since been keeping an eye out on the Village side of campus, where the incident happened.

"(We've increased) patrols in the sense of focusing on this particular area on campus, yes," Burke-Sivers said.

Especially since the car prowls may have been linked to previous car prowls, Burke-Sivers entreats students to be mindful of any seemingly suspicious activity.

"I think everyone has kind of a sense when something doesn't seem right … (but) they have a tendency to blow it off," Burke-Sivers said. "Trust that instinct and notify us and let us decide if it's something or it's nothing."

If any student sees someone matching the description of the suspect, they should contact Public Safety immediately and can email any tips to the police at crimetips.gov.