More than 50 e-scooters and a few bikes were pulled from the Willamette River in downtown Portland Tuesday and Wednesday by a county sheriff’s office dive team. The divers noticed the scooters in the river last month.

Lime, Bird and Razor e-scooters were piled up in a boat Tuesday while a dive team searched along the downtown sea wall for more. Sgt. Brandon White from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said he wasn’t sure who put the scooters in the river or why they were put there.

“We advise those people not to park scooters in the River,” White said.

Last month, White said the River Patrol and Dive Team were training in the Willamette River under the Hawthorne Bridge when they noticed the scooters.

The divers were concerned that the scooters batteries could leak into the river, White said. They were carrying out the plan to get the scooters out of the river Tuesday. He said divers would be back Wednesday to search for more.

In a tweet from the sheriff’s office Wednesday, a photo showed even more scooters piled up on a boat. The crew pulled out “57 scooters/bikes” in two days, according to another tweet from the office.

The bikes pulled from the river appeared to be rentable Biketown bicycles.

It’s not clear how long the scooters have been in the water, but some of the scooters pulled out Tuesday appeared to have rusted. The lights on one Lime scooter, however, were still working.

MCSO’s River Patrol and Dive Team are clearing the “sea wall” on the Willamette River near the Hawthorne Bridge.

So far, they have pulled 5 scooters from the river floor and estimate they will recover 15 more. pic.twitter.com/QF5smBgmfN — Multnomah Co Sheriff (@MultCoSO) June 25, 2019 Sergeant Dangler says the lights are still working on this 🛴

It was recovered from the bottom of the Willamette River today!

I wonder if it will still run?! pic.twitter.com/eTFAy72dYC — Multnomah Co Sheriff (@MultCoSO) June 25, 2019 The team had to quit early because they needed a bigger boat! pic.twitter.com/hyeLP72PlA — Multnomah Co Sheriff (@MultCoSO) June 26, 2019

The sheriff’s office has reached out to scooter companies to give them a chance to pick the scooters up, White said.

Spokespersons from Bird and Lime responded in emails saying vandalizing the scooters is wrong and shouldn’t be accepted. Both said if people see a scooter being vandalized, they should report it.

Lime vandalism can be reported at support@li.me and Bird vandalism can be reported at hello@bird.co.

The Chief Operating Officer of Razor, Danny Simons, said in an email Razor does its best to track their scooters. He said the company is continuously working to minimize missing, stolen or vandalized scooters.

The Biketown bicycles would be picked up Thursday, Biketown spokeswoman Dorothy Mitchell said. She said Biketown is glad the bikes were recovered and will assess them to see if they can be refurbished or used for parts.

-- Peter Talbot

ptalbot@oregonian.com

503-221-5772; @petejtalbot

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