Arson Suspected in Burning of Portland Police Cruiser

Portland, Oregon, police officials suspect arson may be involved in the burning of a patrol vehicle. The vehicle mysteriously caught fire while parked in a city-owned fleet vehicle parking lot.

Portland Police Bureau officers responded to a call about a vehicle fire in the city’s fleet parking lot on Saturday night, officials said in a written statement. Portland Fire and Rescue also responded and extinguished the fire.

Police officials identified the vehicle as a fully marked 2018 Portland Police Ford Interceptor utility vehicle. The officials report the vehicle had been recently involved in a minor crash and towed to the lot for repairs.

Photos released by police officials and tweeted by independent journalist Andy Ngo show the extent of the damage to the police vehicle.

Officials said the cause of the fire is unknown at this time but arson is suspected. An arson investigator is conducting a follow-up investigation.

Police officials say no one has been arrested and they are not releasing any suspect information.

Protests in the Portland area are costing taxpayers millions of dollars. In the past two months, Portland police spent nearly $8 million on costs related to protests, the Portland Mercury reported.

The local news outlet reported more than $5 million of that went to pay overtime expenses to Portland police officers. Another $83,190 was spent on munitions and other weaponry used against protesters during the two-month period.