Around 2 a.m. Wednesday, North Precinct Officer Corey Budworth spotted a woman flagging down his police car near the MAX line on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

The woman had abandoned her car near the Interstate 405 tunnel off U.S. 26, and, together with other stuck motorists, walked across the city. She wasn't dressed for the cold and snow.

"Hey, get in the car,'' Budworth told her. "Let's go.''

He drove the woman to the home of her father in Northeast Portland, a pastor at Community Church of God, who waved to Budworth and told him how grateful he was for the officer's service.

"We're here to look out for people - just take care of the community,'' Budworth said.

Dozens of dispatch calls of "courtesy transport to the MAX station,'' "courtesy transport to a hotel'' and "welfare check - female, cold and disoriented'' filled the overnight and morning shifts as about a foot of snow swamped Portland overnight -- with up to 14 inches in the West Hills.

One call Budworth overheard was a homeowner who had a car stolen overnight but traced its whereabouts by following the tracks it left behind in the snow, he said.

police help stranded motorists 4 Gallery: police help stranded motorists

It doesn't hurt that Budworth passed his first driver's test when he was a teenager during a freezing rainstorm that hit Oregon in 1997. Born and raised in Portland, the 36-year-old previously worked as a contractor for an insurance company in sales and marketing and has been with the Police Bureau for a year and a half.

Just before 5 a.m., Budworth spotted a man waiting for a bus at Northeast Ainsworth Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Budworth slowed his Police Bureau SUV down and pulled over. Figuring the man might have to wait quite a while before his bus came, the officer asked if he needed a ride.

The man, a bread maker for New Seasons, said he was running a little late and could use a lift.

"Why not help someone out?'' Budworth said later Wednesday morning after completing his regular 6 p.m.-to-4 a.m. shift and filling another half of a shift on overtime.

At one point while he was on his rounds, a passerby called police to do a welfare check on a man sleeping under a store awning on North Killingsworth Street.

Budworth stopped to check him out. He asked the man if he was OK or if he needed any help. The man said he was fine and the officer continued on his way.

Around 8:15 a.m., he spotted a woman and man standing by the intersection of North Lombard and Woolsey Street and offered them a ride. Both were Oregonian/OregonLive reporters waiting for a bus. He delivered them to the paper's offices in downtown Portland.

"We made it! Thanks Officer Corey Budworth,'' reporter Everton Bailey wrote in a Twitter message shortly after 9 a.m.

Budworth planned to sleep in one of the quiet rooms at North Precinct, off Northeast Killingsworth St., instead of trying to make it back to his home in Gladstone so he could be ready for his next shift at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Meanwhile at Central Precinct in downtown Portland, officers responded to dozens of hazard calls, especially in the West Hills or along I-5, I-405 and Highway 26. Officers worked to block trouble spots and close roads, said police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson.



In some cases, police gave stranded people rides to the Central Precinct offices, gave them water and snacks, helped find them hotel rooms and then took them to the hotels for the night, Central Precinct's Acting Lt. Jeremy Price said.

East Precinct officers went out on all-terrain vehicles to check for stranded motorists. If vehicles were unoccupied, officers were marking them with yellow tape to indicate that the car had been checked and was clear.

Officers across the city on all-terrain vehicles and sport utility vehicles contacted, and or marked nearly three dozen vehicles on I-205 and along surface streets, police said.

They also took about three dozen homeless people to warming shelters. More than two dozen people declined to go to shelters and officers passed out some jackets to those in need, Simpson said.

As the cold weather continues, police advise drivers prepare for the weather with a full tank of gas, traction devices or snow tires, extra food and water -- and a healthy dose of patience.



If you see someone outside, unsheltered whose life appears to be in danger or is in an apparent medical crisis, call 911. If you see someone you're concerned about -- such as not having the right clothes for the conditions -- call the police nonemergency number (503-823-3333) and request a welfare check. To help someone find shelter and transportation to a shelter, call 211.

--Maxine Bernstein and Everton Bailey

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian

-- Everton Bailey

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@evertonbailey