Bend fugitive who eluded police in April manhunt caught after Walmart shoplifting incident
Barney Lerten
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — A wanted Bend man who eluded a police manhunt in April tried to flee again after a Walmart shoplifting incident Thursday evening by driving from a car’s front passenger seat, but was caught and arrested, police said.
Around 6:20 p.m., Thursday, May 29, Bend Police were investigating a hit-and-run crash in the parking lot of Walmart when they were contacted by loss prevention personnel about a pair of shoplifters who left the store without paying for more than $500 in groceries and placed them in the trunk of a white sedan, police Communications Manager Sheila Miller said.
When officers contacted the car’s occupants, they tried to flee before stopping. The front passenger, later identified as David Alan Mills, 46, then repeatedly attempted to drive the vehicle from the passenger seat in an effort to get away from officers, Miller said.
Mills had an outstanding felony warrant for first-degree burglary, felon in possession of a firearm, unlawful use of a weapon, menacing and fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer stemming from an April 17 incident in which a large manhunt took place and northeast Bend residents were alerted about two men, one possibly armed, who ran from officers at a traffic stop.
Mills was taken into custody and taken first to St. Charles Bend before being booked into the Deschutes County Jail on the warrant, as well as new charges of second-degree theft (shoplifting), misdemeanor driving with a suspended license and methamphetamine possession.
Mills was arraigned Friday on two formal misdemeanor charges of meth possession and second-degree theft and is scheduled to enter a plea on June 20, court records show. He has a lengthy arrest record dating back at least 20 years. Jail records Friday show Mills is being held without bail for a parole violation.