The man shot and killed by law enforcement officers in Clackamas County early Saturday after an attempted traffic stop was identified Tuesday as a 24-year-old from Tigard.
Authorities suspected Derrick D. Clark was driving under the influence and tried to stop his car about 1 a.m. near the intersection of Southeast Wood and Railroad avenues, but he didn’t pull over and ended up in a ditch, according to information released by Clackamas County District Attorney John Wentworth’s office.
Officers ordered Clark out of the car and he emerged with a gun, according to the account. Clark, who is Black, was shot twice and died at the scene.
Wentworth’s office identified the officers involved as Oregon State Police Trooper Zachary Cole, who has worked for the agency for seven years, and Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office Detective Dan Ferguson, who has worked there for nine years. Both are white.
The prosecutor’s office declined to shed additional light on the circumstances, such as how long Clark was followed and which agency initiated the stop.
The office said it would present its completed investigation to a grand jury for review.
Milwaukie resident Tom Widlits said he got out of bed around the time of the shooting and heard “pop,pop,pop.”
“I thought that’s not normal,” he said.
Then he and other residents who live near the intersection received repeated emergency text messages, alerting them to police activity in that area.
Resident Nancy Hopkins said she heard what sounded like several loud “booms” or “pops” and noticed her three dogs were agitated and restless.
She and her husband soon noticed police lights and officers putting flares along Railroad Avenue to shut down the road along the tracks.
One nearby resident said about 2:25 a.m., he heard police using a bullhorn to ask the man to walk out of the bushes toward the tracks. He said he heard police alert the man that they would call for medical assistance if he was hurt and also warned that they had a police dog on site.
Court records show Clark was convicted in 2015 of second-degree robbery with a firearm and unlawful use of a weapon in Multnomah County. He was 17 at the time and was turned over to the custody of the Oregon Youth Authority for a sentence of about 5 1/12 years.
Records show he would have been on post-prison supervision at the time he was killed.
According to court filings, Clark took part in an armed robbery involving marijuana in the area of Northeast 178th Avenue and Glisan Street. Police found a silver derringer-style gun in his backpack at the time of his arrest.
Since May 2021, Clackamas County sheriff’s deputies have been involved in at least four shootings, three of them fatal, and all involving chases.
Oregonian reporter Maxine Bernstein contributed to this report.
— Noelle Crombie; ncrombie@oregonian.com; 503-276-7184; @noellecrombie
