A man who reportedly fled from Corvallis police after a traffic stop early Thursday morning was found two hours later hiding under the deck of a homeless shelter, police said.

Robert D. McDaniel, 21, of Albany, was reportedly driving a stolen vehicle that had been spotted at the site of an Aug. 16 robbery at the Union 76 gas station on Highway 34, near Interstate 5.

Linn County investigators later determined that McDaniel was not the robbery suspect, but the pickup he drove was a "vehicle of interest" in the robbery investigation, Linn County Det. Sgt. Rodney David said.

McDaniel was stopped in Corvallis for driving the wrong way down a one-way street, Corvallis Police spokesman Lt. Dave Henslee said.

Henslee said the incident happened this way:

At approximately 12:30 a.m., Corvallis Police Sgt. Jeff Marr spotted two vehicles heading east on the westbound-only Harrison Boulevard near 10th Street.

Marr drove past the rear vehicle, a 1986 Toyota 4-Runner, forcing the 4-Runner to pull over so he could stop both vehicles, and he pulled his patrol vehicle in behind a brown 1992 Ford pickup.

The pickup, reportedly driven by McDaniel, continued north on Fifth Street and slowed down near a car dealership. The driver jumped out - with the pickup still rolling - and started running.

The brown pickup crashed into a parked vehicle at the car dealership as the man ran west.

McDaniel was found by a police K-9 unit, huddled under the deck of Community Outreach Inc. at 865 N.W. Reiman Ave.

McDaniel was arrested for unauthorized use of a vehicle and attempting to elude police in connection with the incident. Theft charges might also be pending after police later found a stolen mountain bicycle in the truck bed of the pickup he allegedly was driving, Henslee said.

McDaniel was taken to the Linn County jail, where he remains held without bail, to be interviewed by investigators in connection with the earlier robbery. Linn County authorities are holding him on a parole violation and a bench warrant for failing to appear in court.

The driver of the 4-Runner that Marr pulled over along with the pickup left the scene. A computer check later turned up that vehicle as stolen, but it was recovered in Linn County.

Linn County authorities continue to investigate the nature of the connection, if any, between the drivers of the stolen Toyota and 4-Runner, McDaniel and the Aug. 16 robbery.