After leading law enforcement officials in a chase on Wednesday, Feb. 12, a Sweet Home man who was wanted on a warrant was captured Friday afternoon, two days later after he crashed a motorcycle he was riding on Crawfordsville Drive.
Linn County Sheriff Michelle Duncan reported that at about 2:31 p.m. Friday deputies responded to a suspicious person in the 39000 block of Crawfordsville Dr., Crawfordsville. They suspected that person was Tyler Bruce Lanz, 37, of Sweet Home, who had outstanding felony warrants. Deputies and other law enforcement agencies had attempted to locate and arrest Lanz on Feb. 12 near Holley after he had fled from Sweet Home Police Department officers; however, he was not found.
On Friday afternoon, as deputies and troopers from the Oregon State Police were setting up a perimeter, a motorcycle coming from the location drove by at a high rate of speed and crashed, Duncan said.
Lanz was identified as the motorcycle rider. He suffered what were thought to be non-life-threatening injuries, but was transported to the Lebanon Hospital, then transferred to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis.
Lanz was accompanied by deputies in the ambulance to the hospital, who remained with him until he was lodged in Linn County Jail on Saturday.
As of Monday, he faced charges of felon in possession of a firearm, altering the identification of a firearm, unlawful delivery of methamphetamines, failure to perform the duties of a driver – property damage, reckless driving, eluding on foot and in a vehicle, and other felony warrants relating to an original second-degree assault charge, failure to appear and probation violation. More charges were added on Feb. 19: possession of cocaine, distribution of controlled substance – meth within 1,000 feet of a school, distribution of controlled substance – cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school, manufacturing meth and manufacturing cocaine.
Linn County deputies were assisted at the scene Friday by the Oregon State Police and the Sweet Home Fire Department.
Lanz was the subject of an intensive search Wednesday afternoon after he led Sweet Home police and Linn County deputies in a high-speed vehicle pursuit that ended when Lanz crashed his vehicle near the intersection of Upper Calapooia Drive and Springer Road.
Lanz fled on foot into the Springer Road area. Oregon State Police, Sweet Home police and Linn County deputies converged in the area, searching for Lanz, who, they suspected, was armed with a firearm.
The search was called off after 5 p.m. when officials decided Lanz had likely been picked up and was no longer in the area.
