Someone has been throwing canned food off a downtown Portland high-rise, endangering those below

PORTLAND, Ore. -- It was nearly six weeks ago that Lauren Ellis returned to her car after working her evening bartending shift at Higgins restaurant in downtown Portland when she noticed a smashed can of ravioli on the ground.

She said she inspected her car in the darkness but didn’t until the next morning notice any obvious damage: A sizable dent on the roof.

Ellis recounts how that early April day had been the first that a co-worker warned her that someone had dropped or thrown a can from the luxury high-rise apartment building — the Ladd Tower – onto the sidewalk or street below. Soon, a few deeply shaken co-workers who had been on breaks reported seeing cans plummeting down from the top floors of the 23-story building, Ellis said. An inspection of Higgins’ roof led to the discovery of a few more, totaling at least eight to 10 cans in all, Ellis said.

Ellis has become the point person for Higgins and its concerned employees — embarking on a mission to stop the can-throwing. She has reached out to security staff and management at the Ladd Tower, filed reports with Portland police and talked to the Oregon Historical Society, which is next-door-neighbors with the restaurant, to learn if they’ve seen anything. Weeks into her queries and with no result yet, Ellis is at wit’s end — overwhelmed with concern that someone is going to end up hurt if the culprit isn’t caught.

“It’s still happening,” Ellis told The Oregonian/OregonLive after learning of two more cans tossed last week. “I think we’re all interested in trying to figure out who this is so they don’t continue.”

She added: “A can from 18 stories, could obviously kill somebody if not hurt them pretty badly.”

Portland police spokesperson Mike Benner described the can-throwing incidents as “extremely troubling.” But he told The Oregonian/OregonLive that because the person responsible is reportedly occupying an upper-level apartment that’s above the leafy green tree-line, “it is incredibly difficult to pinpoint which apartment is involved.”

Benner said police would like the public’s help in identifying the person. He confirmed officers have received multiple reports, all from Ellis.

However, Ellis and Higgins employees aren’t the only ones who’ve seen the cans.

Rachel Randles, the historical society’s chief marketing and communications officer, told The Oregonian/OregonLive in an email that “a few cans/fruit” have been dropped from the Ladd Tower and that the food has “almost struck pedestrians on a couple of occasions.”

“As dropping anything from that height could cause serious injury, and with so many folks frequenting this block from school children to museum visitors to diners, we hope this will stop immediately,” Randles said.

The cans appear to be striking the ground on the north side of the Ladd Tower, along Southwest Jefferson Street between Park Avenue and Broadway.

According to the Ladd Tower’s security company, Atlas Pacific, employees have noticed canned goods or other food outside their building. But they didn’t think much of it until Ellis contacted them because there’s a church food bank nearby and sometimes people leave food on the streets and sidewalks.

Atlas Pacific’s vice president, James Woehrman, said there have been no reports from staff or tenants about someone dropping cans from the building, but security would cooperate if police reach out to them.

“It’s very mysterious,” Woehrman said of the can-throwing.

Holland Partner Group, which manages the Ladd Tower, said it, too, will cooperate if police contact the company. Dan Tremaine-McCarthy, said his group sent a letter this week to tenants notifying them that “a vehicle parked at a nearby business was damaged by an object that appeared to have been dropped from a high elevation” and that “objects were seen falling” more recently. The letter asked residents to report anything they see.

“And, if it can be done safely, record images or video of this taking place,” the letter read.

Benner, the police spokesperson, said police are limited in what they can do. Although going door-to-door to interview tenants in the upper floors of the building remains an option, it likely wouldn’t yield anything useful.

“Short of someone confessing, PPB personnel can’t search an apartment without probable cause and/or a warrant,” Benner said. “Most people have canned goods in their homes, so even if they are in possession of them it doesn’t make them a suspect.”

Ellis has taken to using gloves to collect the smashed cans found by Higgins staff. She has put them in Ziploc bags so they can potentially be used as evidence. But it seems unlikely police would have the cans tested. For one, Benner points out that the suspect’s fingerprints would need to be in a criminal database.

“Fingerprinting falls under investigative tactics, so I’m not going to comment further except to point out that it might only help add evidence if a person is apprehended or has been arrested previously,” Benner said.

In the meantime, Ellis said she and her co-workers will continue on their current course of vigilance.

“Every time we find another can, I call them and report it to them,” Ellis said.

Dylan Shmitt, Higgins’ general manager, said the restaurant gave Ellis its blessing to reach out to The Oregonian/OregonLive — even though any negative publicity could hurt business.

The can-throwing incident is coming at a time when business is already reduced because of downtown Portland’s tarnished reputation and, more recently, the disruptions from the pro-Palestinian protests at Portland State University about eight blocks away.

“People only need the smallest push to cancel a reservation,” Shmitt said.

But Shmitt said it’s more important to consider the safety of pedestrians and drivers in the area, and put out the word for the public’s help to try to catch the person responsible.

“We’re hoping there’ll be an easy way to find this one culprit,” Shmitt said. “It’s just one person on top of a building.”