Police: Callers dial 911 and falsely report shots fired to get out of Bend traffic stop
Published 11:09 am Thursday, May 25, 2023
- Oregon State Police
Two people were arrested in Bend Thursday after they made a false 911 call about nearby gunfire, an attempt to get police to leave while they waited for their car to be towed, a state trooper reported.
Christian Mathew Gregory Hill, 47, of Terrebonne, and Brandy Lee Hill, 47, face charges of initiating a false report, according to Oregon State Police records.
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State police trooper Zach Taylor stopped the two in a white SUV on U.S. Highway 97 just north of Bend on suspicion of speeding at around 11 p.m.
Taylor reported that although Brandy Hill, who was driving, said the car was insured, she did not have anything to prove it. The SUV had last been insured in 2021, Taylor wrote after reviewing a DMV report. He told the Hills that, per state law, the car would be towed.
While waiting for a tow truck, Taylor reported that both of the Hills pulled out their phones, called 911 and reported that shots had been fired in the area around a Lowe’s Home Improvement store in Bend.
A dispatcher then contacted Taylor and told him that the call was coming from his location.
“After interviewing both occupants it was found that the report was false, and was an attempt to make me leave the location,” Taylor wrote.
Police arrested the two and booked them in the Deschutes County jail on suspicion of initiating a false report, and the vehicle was towed.