This story has been updated with adjudication details:

Lane County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested a 58-year-old Eugene man Monday, Dec. 29, who they allege drove recklessly and tried to evade police on River Road.

Police charged Tyler Gene Dendy with two counts of fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, along with reckless driving and six drug- and weapons-related offenses. He was lodged in the Lane County Jail.

The sheriff’s office gave this account, in a news release Tuesday: At 11 p.m. Monday, a deputy in the River Road area of Eugene noticed a 2003 Chevrolet Trailblazer stopped in the middle of Irving Road. As the deputy turned around, the driver fled at high speed, and after considering the risk of endangering nearby traffic and the residential area, the deputy chose not to pursue.

Deputies monitored the vehicle’s location as it continued to drive recklessly on River Road, the news release said. Officers planned to spike the tires of the vehicle to slow it down, but before deputies were in position, the vehicle went off the road and struck a concrete curb, flattening both driver’s side tires.

Dendy continued driving for several miles, the sheriff’s office said, before surrendering without incident. During a search of the vehicle, deputies located a pistol, two daggers, ammunition, and substances that tested positive as methamphetamine and fentanyl, the sheriff’s office said.

Dendy was charged Tuesday in Lane County Circuit Court with two felony counts of fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer in a vehicle and one felony count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He also faces misdemeanor counts of reckless driving, recklessly endangering another person, being a felon in possession of a restricted weapon, possession of methamphetamine and possession of fentanyl.

Junction City police aided in the incident.

Updated March 16, 2026:

After plea negotiations with prosecutors, Dendy pleaded guilty March 11, 2026, to two felony counts of fleeing. Other charges were dismissed.

Lane County Circuit Judge Stephen Morgan sentenced Dendy to two years of post-prison supervision following a jail sentence of 30 days. With credit for time served, Dendy had completed his jail sentence at the time of sentencing.

Morgan also ordered Dendy to forfeit a Luger pistol. Among the charges dismissed was a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearem.

Dendy’s driver’s license was also revoked for one year.