Driver, passenger in U-Haul chase released from county jail
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EUGENE, Ore. -- The two people arrested after leading police on a high-speed chase in a U-Haul van were released on Thursday due to a lack of space at the Lane County Jail.
Lance Harris and Natasha Lucero of Portland fled police in a mid-size U-Haul through West Eugene on Wednesday afternoon, leading officers on a chase past the city limits, Eugene Police officials said.
Eventually Harris crashed the van on Prairie Road, and police took both parties into custody on multiple charges.
An officer initially tried to stop the U-Haul because an officer suspected it might be involved in an active case, a spokeswoman said.
Officials said that both Harris and Lucero were released from police custody just hours after being arraigned for their charges Thursday afternoon.
Police arrested Harris, 43, of Portland, on charges of eluding police, driving with a suspended license and unauthorized use of a vehicle. A spokeswoman said additional charges related to the pursuit are likely to be brought against Harris.
His passenger, 26-year-old Natasha Leanne Lucero of Portland, was arrested on one count of unauthorized use of a vehicle.
As of Thursday morning, police said they were still investigating any possible connections.
The investigation closed both north and southbound lanes of Northwest Expressway between Awbrey Lane and Irvington Drive during rush hour Wednesday while police investigate the van.
Lance Harris killed my daughter in 1987.  He stole a car lost control and.... killed my daughter and seriously injured her mom. See your story of the couple that stole the u-haul on 1-9-13.  In the past 6 month he has been charged and released in Multnomath, Yamhill, Benton and Lane counties for similar crimes.  He was released from Lane Co. jail after less than 24hrs.   In 1987 he had just been released from Maclaren because of budget cuts.  He had been for out for less than 24 hrs when he killed by daughter.  He is back on on our streets and operating on the same M O.
Why even arrest them? Lane County is officially lawless. Your on your own folks.Â
No more money for the parasitic police state.
In other news, concealled weapons permits issued this year are at an all time high. I think the folks of oregon have finally figured it out. police never have and never will protect the people, they only show up after wards to clean up the mess left behind by criminals. lane county continues to let criminals out. yet spend tax payers dollars on pet projects that nobody wants or needs at this juncture in history. Dear city council, i already give more than my fair share of taxes, i am not giving you anymore, live within your means,! I seem to find a way to make ends meet. if you dont like that , let me run the community safety budget. " i will build a prison, with 4 fences and some tents. no t.v., no phone calls, one meal a day. will cost next to nothing to run."Â
Of the charges listed, the male offended (at least) could have been held in the city of Eugene's jail. Oh wait, that's right, Eugene doesn't have one and feels it is up to the county/state to deal with there trash. Pressure your council representative to stop funding city side projects and build there own jail. Free our city from being under the thumb of the Sheriff and his demands for more money. Eugene has shown more concern for the safety of the homeless then they have for the tax paying home. That is totally unacceptable for a city of Eugene's size.
So nice that they have a new police headquarters. Couldn't that money have been allocated to the jail? I will not be bullied into voting for a tax increase until they take our money seriously.Â
 @kcb123 No, it COULDN"T have been "allocated" to the jail.Â
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KCB you really should get to know your government better. Â You don't need to worry about being bullied as much as you should be concerned about your ignorance.Â
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The JAIL is COUNTY
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The new POLICE HQ is CITY,Â
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different tax base, different budgets.Â
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do you pay your neighbors house payment? Â
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If so, Mr Rodgers... "won't you be my neighbor?"
 @Jason Marks The city could have its own jail. Springfield just built one. Crime went down immediately. Eugene has art downtown instead. Even Cottage Grove has a jail.
@Jason Marks @kcb123 I would bet that you aren't old enough or been here long enough to know that the city used to run the old jail, and it worked fine. Now you tell me what happened to change all that, smarty pants.
well, we don't live in the past, now do we?!
This is just the result of our city counsel and mayor getting even with us for not voting them a larger budget.
 @Franklyspeaking AGAIN, know you government.
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the city doesn't release them from county jail, the county does.Â
the county doesn't take orders from the mayor.Â
@Jason Marks  It's tax payer money being spent by the government and it doesn't matter who is spending it. Wasting the funding is not what we tax payers like to see so they better start seeing to it they work with each other. Just because one branch dosen't know what the other is doing is not an excuse for the waste. Regroup or face the consequences. That's how the government will get to know us.
"it doesn't matter" Â he says...... YIKES
@SkinnersGhost @Franklyspeaking There is not room on this or any other page to tell you what is better, but I will guarantee you one thing, unless things change we will all meet face to face in the food line.
 @Franklyspeaking  I can give you an absolute guarantee that if you care about government finances or policy it does make a difference who is spending it. If you don't care who is spending it, you can't seriously claim to have a better idea about spending. If you're totally clueless about the details... why waste your time telling other people how it should be done better? If you don't know how it is done, how would you know what would be better?
 @Franklyspeaking Paranoid as usual.
@RelaxThereIsNoGod 5   You wouldn't say that if you paid property tax. The whole country is becoming paranoid, well the tax payers are. But I have a feeling you are going to tell me you pay taxes, weather you do or not.
I will not vote for a levy or tax increase for Lane County until they get there budget balanced. Then I would like to see a projected budget that would show how they are going to sufficient patrol officers and jail bed for the druggies and the criminals.
 @Ah Shucks Why the druggies? Who cares.
 @Ah Shucks Any increase in patrol officers or jail beds would require additional county revenue. You may not be aware of this, but the county has very little revenue. There is no area of county finances that is well financed; everything is on a shoestring.
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There is really only one place to get the money without new revenue, that would be road repair. We're already behind in rural road repair, so no, you can't have that money for cops or for the jail.
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If you want more cops and more jail beds, you should be DEMANDING new or increased county taxes, not refusing it.
@SkinnersGhost @Ah Shucks    OK Skinner, you seem to like the way city hall is spending our money, which tells me you are one of them. Have any of you ever heard of living within your means? Why don't you people stop excessive spending? Where in city hall is your office? How much are your dues? How much money will you get when you retire? Why do you look down on anybody that disagrees with you? Why am I stupid and you so smart?
@SkinnersGhost @Ah Shucks You obviously were not around here when there were no public unions. The cops were paid as good as anyone in the private sector, and they were good dedicated cops. Then came all the public unions, and they (the unions) got "their" people elected, and then collective bargaining was a shoe in. Now what do we have with all their greed and teeth gnashing, they are broke, they refuse to reform, so they get more broke, etc. etc. Leonard use to run a good ambulance service, the fire department was good, the cops were good, you tell me what in the heck happened to all that good? Your kind of thinking is exactly what the problem is.