Rainier, Ore. (KOIN) — Oregon State Police arrested a suspect who they said dangled backpacks from the Lewis and Clark Bridge — shutting down the bridge for 4 hours Monday.
The bridge was shut down shortly after witnesses called 911 around 10 a.m. and said they saw an older white man with a gray beard tying backpacks on the bridge with rope and dropping them over the side before walking away.
The suspect was later identified as 61-year-old Samuel Abram Owen from Rainier.
Washington State Patrol officials originally said 3 backpacks were hanging 75 feet down from the bridge on the Oregon side. They later clarified there were only 2 backpacks.
The OSP bomb squad had a robot approach the bags before using a water canon in an attempt to open the backpacks. Fortunately no explosives were found in the bags.
After investigators deemed it safe to get closer, the OSP bomb squad sifted through the bags and found items like clothes, switchblades and other personal property.
Sgt. Luke Schwartz said, “It’s just hard to come up with a reasonable explanation for why somebody would lower a couple of backpacks, about 50 pounds, from the bridge.”
All lanes on the bridge — on both sides — were reopened around 2:25 p.m. River traffic on the Columbia, which was closed for 500 yards during the incident, was also reopened.
However, the incident left hundreds stuck in traffic hours hours. Many people ended up pulling to the side of the road and waited.
“I’d rather be working than standing here,” witness Raymond Nelson said. “No wage at all.”
OSP said there were no additional threats to the public and the incident stemmed from a dispute between Owen and another individual.
Owen has been arrested for 1st-degree disorderly conduct and possession of a user quantity of methamphetamine, 2nd-degree theft, 3rd-degree criminal mischief and felon in possession of a restricted weapon. He was lodged at the Columbia County Jail.
The Lewis and Clark Bridge has a 1,200-foot central section that was — at the time it was built in 1929– the longest cantilever span in North America, according to Bridgehunter.com. It goes across the Columbia River between Longview, Washington and Rainier, Oregon.