In case you missed it late last night, the Oregonian had a short report about fellow, initially stopped because he was jaywalking, who tried to run from cops and wound up run over by a police cruiser that was never put in park.

The whole thing started a little before 9 pm near SW 12th and Columbia, after officers apparently noticed the guy crossing the road and decided to say hello. Instead of stopping to chat, the guy took off (turns out he had a misdemeanor warrant). The officers caught up with him and while one was getting him on the ground, in custody—the second got out of his car in such a rush to help that he left the thing in gear.

That's when car then rolled over the fellow's chest, amazingly only injuring the guy and not killing him. Another cop dove in to stop the car. The man, identified by police this morning as Jimmy Duffey, 31, was treated at a hospital before being booked into jail on his warrant and some new misdemeanor charges.

Sergeant Pete Simpson, the police bureau's main spokesman, told the O the bureau's traffic division will look into the incident.

"Something like this has happened to me at least twice," Simpson said. "I had my foot on the brake while talking to someone, had to get out and the patrol car was still in gear. I never hit anybody though."

“Luckily,” he added, “the suspect in this case is okay."

Judging from past reporting and public records on legal settlements reviewed by the Mercury, and presuming that the fellow finds the right lawyer, it's a pretty safe bet this winds up costing the city's insurance policy.

Meanwhile, that wasn't the only piece of bad news for the cops. Officer Paul Meyer, a longtime trainer on less-lethal weapons (who played a small role in the furor over Ron Frashour's dismissal and the back-and-forth recriminations that followed), was sent to a hospital yesterday after a storm-tossed "telephone pole-sized tree fell from 30 feet" and hit his ATV during a training session out on Hayden Island. The bureau today said Meyer is recovering but remains in serious condition.