Crisis negotiators spent five hours trying to calm a man throwing furniture from his window in North Portland on Saturday before spraying a chemical agent into his home and arresting him, the Portland Police Bureau reported.
Police say the items thrown by 40-year-old Joseph J. Lee were causing damage to the cars on the street below his third-story window.
Officers arrived at Lee’s apartment in the 6900 block of North Interstate Avenue just before 10 p.m. and attempted to speak to him, but say he continued destroying property in his apartment and throwing items outside.
Suspecting that Lee might be undergoing a mental health crisis, they called in a crisis negotiation team and consulted with mental health outreach clinicians from Multnomah County. However, these teams were unable to calm Lee down after more than five hours of negotiations, police say.
After evacuating some neighbors from their apartments, officers deployed a “chemical agent” into Lee’s apartment and arrested him. Despite some reports that he may be armed with a gun, police did not see one during the incident.
Lee was transported by ambulance to a hospital, police say, where he was evaluated, released, and booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center. He has been charged with two counts each of unlawful use of a weapon and menacing.
Lee currently has a bench warrant out for his arrest for failing to appear at a court hearing on July 30. He faces charges in that case of menacing and unlawful use of a weapon for allegedly waving a knife outside of a gas station last year.
The Portland Police Bureau did not respond to questions Sunday evening about the nature of the chemical agent as well as the details of the charges Lee faces.
-- Diana Kruzman; dkruzman@oregonian.com; 503-221-5394; @DKruzman