Man with sword stops firefighters; dog rescued from house fire
PORTLAND, Ore. – Firefighters responding to a house fire in North Portland on Saturday evening had to wait for police to detain a man who met them swinging a sword and holding a shield.
Sgt. Greg Pashley with the Portland Police Bureau said firefighters first encountered the man on the front porch of the burning house. Officers tried to talk to the man, but he kept swinging the sword and yelling incoherently, Pashley said.
Officers managed to fire a Taser at the man then take him safely away so firefighters could get in.
Once firefighters managed to get into the burning house at 7827 North Hodge Avenue they found a dog that was suffering from smoke inhalation. They used a special dog oxygen mask to help the dog and brought it to safety.
Firefighters got the fire under control about 20 minutes after they arrived. There was around $40,000 in damage to the house.
The exact cause of the fire is under investigation.
Pashley said the 69-year-old man who was swinging the sword suffered a cut from broken glass and was taken to the hospital for a mental evaluation. This was at least the second time this month officers had to help this man during a mental crisis.
Has anybody heard about the 3 loaded AR-15's he had in the house or the booby trap he set in his backyard?
Let's have an open mind here. He was possibly trying to protect the firemen from the deadly fire breathing dragon inside his home.
Hope the nutso gets charged for animal cruelty too. He decides to set his house on fire and leaves his dog inside to suffer? Poor thing. I'm glad that police and firefighters were able to sucessfully resolve this situation.
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Damn, harry, your dr needs to check your level of medication. You have done gone over the edge!
 @HarryJuku Nah, we're just going to provide him with keys to your house and let him live with you. Gun free, of course, but he gets to keep his sword and shield and you two can live in harmony.
It's time we begin a national discussion on the banning of swords.
A high pressure fire-hose defeats a sword and shield any day. Â In addition, it prevents the guy from being burned and controls the fire around the sword wielder. All though, the poor sword wielder could then sue the fire department for assault with an aqua weapon, inciting the protester crowd to call for a ban on all aqua projection equipment. Â The firemen involved would be charged with Fireman Brutality and excessive use of water. Sigh.... I am glad EMS units are better able to care for animal and pet victims. Â While overjoyed at saving a family from a burning house, many fire personal I have known, felt a great loss when a families cherished pet could not be saved. Thank you to all the EMS workers, and the 911 dispatchers, who work 24/7 even through the holiday seasons, in order to provide protection to all of us. Â :-)Â
What a kook! Thank goodness for the firefighters having the dog oxygen mask! Wonderful job!
Pretty cool equipment! Wonder who invented it? Probably a fire fighter or cop that got sick of seeing innocent animal victims die on account of people's stupid mistakes. Salute to our Public Servants who almost daily put their lives on the line to keep us safe!
 @iamtroglodite ~  Don't know who invented it, but those oxygen masks for animals are really wonderful..!   They had a donation drive here in Salem a year or so ago to buy these for the SFD...  Oxygen masks for humans are just too large for smaller animals, and they aren't the right shape...
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Why is it, that there is funding for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but no funding for the mentally ill in the United States of America? Who pays the TSA agents to strip search us as schools are left with no funding for security? Why wasn't the FBI standing guard as Gabby Gifford's spoke, yet when the president takes to air, there are TWO aircrafts flying him??? Why does Beaverton employ one police officer for every 1000 residents when Clackamas malls go without police monitoring foot traffic? For that matter, why aren't police walking Washington Square Mall, every day, every hour the mall is open?
That answer would be tax cuts. And mis-management.
Ah, yes, another conundrum. Back in the 80's Regan closed mental institutions all over the country due to no funding because of tax cuts. I lived in Eugene at the time and huge numbers of nut cases came to town on their own, were dropped there by the White Bird folks, and sent there by many govt. entities. All because it had gotten out that the Eugene Mission was a place that homeless could stay indefinitly.ny cop that worked in Eugene back then and they will tell you that over a couple weeks time crime went fu-kbuggy.
Point is, you cut taxes, you have to cut funding. Mental health was the "victim" then. Social Security and medicare will be the next "victim". Without money AND responsible spending of that money you can't have programs.
 @iamtroglodite Closed mental institutes in the 80's..... Let's see, I'm doing the math in my head..... Yup, that explains why we have so many nut jobs today. They didn't get the therapy they needed while they were growing up. So sad.Â
The whole 'end of the world' thing is apparently bringing out the craziest in some people.
@axpman Only 4 more crazy-making days till the end! Get out your guns, get out your swords, get out your potato pealers all you crazed maniacs, it is the end! WOO,WOO,WOO! (if you want, picture Daffy Duck going berserk and bouncing around on a pond)
No pictures of the skel waving his sword, just some poor dog that happened to be there. Makes for a great picture, but not the truth since we react more to pictures than what is written...
The dog is a victim. Your "skel" is just someone that's nuttier than squirrel s#!t wanting to be noticed. He succeded.
ban everything
Maybe a mandatory job slicing cheese for this gentleman?
 @BREAKING NEWS !!! Thee worst time of year as a cop/sheriff and I speak from personal experience. Time for another bowl...
 @boned  @BREAKING NEWS !!! I agree Boned! But lately we have more then the norm of nutjobs! :( Â
Totally Weird. Apparently 'tis the season to be totally nutso.
Thank God he didn't have a gun!
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Glad the dog was rescued and the man, nor anyone else wasn't harmed.
I hope he gets the help he needs.
The mental health regulations are clearly in need some work here. This is what happens when you slash funding for psych facilities and then have no choice but to turn them loose on the streets. There definitely needs to be a restructure. In light of recent events all over, I feel that having access and directing those who need the help is the first step in preventing incidents involving unstable people that are armed. I'm actually shocked the police didn't shoot him. I'd rather read this kind of headline than seeing one where the police had to use deadly force.
Good thing he didn't have an AK-47 or we'd have a bunch of dead firemen. And a dead dog.
All evil sword owners and crazy people must immediately turn over all machetes, swords, sabers and other edged weapons.
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It never used to be that way.
It's not the crazy man's fault, it's the sword's. We must pass a law banning all swords! Hey libs. see how stupid that sounds? That's how stupid it sounds when you use that argument when you want to ban guns. BTW, super-class act calling for the death of anyone in the NRA!
Modern day Viking berserker? Maybe he played Skyrim too much.
Ban firearms, ban large capacity magazines, ban assault weapons, ban swords. Let's completely eliminate methods for people to kill other people and ignore the fact that we have a broken mental health system. Banning things is a cheaper fix. (In case you missed the point, this is sarcasm.).
The firemen should have treated this idiot like a dog and sprayed him with their water house. their water hose.
 @dkgiovenco Agreed.  A high pressure fire-hose defeats a sword and shield any day.  In addition, it prevents the guy from being burned and controls the fire around the sword wielder.
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All though, the poor sword wielder could then sue the fire department for assault with an aqua weapon, inciting the protester crowd to call for a ban on all aqua projection equipment.  The firemen involved would be charged with Fireman Brutality and excessive use of water.
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Sigh....
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I am glad EMS units are better able to care for animal and pet victims.  While overjoyed at saving a family from a burning house, many fire personal I have known, felt a great loss when a families cherished pet could not be saved.
Â
Thank you to all the EMS workers, and the 911 dispatchers, who work 24/7 even through the holiday seasons, in order to provide protection to all of us. Â :-)Â
 @dkgiovenco That's EXACTLY what I thought. Water-cannon trumps sword.
And KATU check to see why this guy isn't getting the counseling needed and such, Further more do checks on how much Mental health agencies are losing. You want a real reason as to why this is happening, start investigating that and follow the monies..that is ..If the AP still can do any real journalism like investigating such issues.
 @lee986321 The main stream media has not been adept at investigating anything for a very long time, especially when it puts their ideology in a poor light. Take Benghazi for instance.
"This was at least the second time this month officers had to help this man during a mental crisis." Â
(from the story)
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...and we're only HALFWAY through the month..!   The guy aggressively meets firefighters with a sword and shield; his house is burning up behind him; police have to Taser him to get control over him so the firefighters can put out the fire and rescue that poor dog... What more evidence of  "clear & present danger" do they need..?!!?
PUH-LEEZE... get a emergency court order if that's what is needed...get this man into a secure hospital somewhere; get him evaluated... and get him some help..! Â But do it NOW..! Â Â
This has been a terrible week... do we REALLY need any more senseless bloodshed..?!? Â
 @margay1 I donât believe my son belongs in jail. The chaotic environment exacerbates Michaelâs sensitivity to sensory stimuli and doesnât deal with the underlying pathology. But it seems like the United States is using prison as the solution of choice for mentally ill people. According to Human Rights Watch, the number of mentally ill inmates in U.S. prisons quadrupled from 2000 to 2006, and it continues to riseâin fact, the rate of inmate mental illness is five times greater (56 percent) than in the non-incarcerated population. (http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/09/05/us-number-mentally-ill-prisons-quadrupled)
 @lee986321 All it takes to change those numbers is to modify the definition of mentally unstable.
There arent enough dollars in the world to provide programs for everyone who could be adjudicated as having a mental issue.
So, Prison is the proper location for some, but not all offenders.
In addition, exit treatment for those on probation/paroll is changing. It is a vast and complicated system and it takes time for it to change. The science is also not solid on how best to treat all these offenders. The liability of not treating them properly, then releasing them to society is great and not worth effecting unproven changes over night.
It takes time and patience. And patience is something the American people are not particularly good at.
 @margay1 Pick and chose the section you want, but I suggest you read it, because you who state get rid of medicare and medicaid, this is what you will be dealing with. And yes this is the second time this has happened , it will cost Oregon, $20,000 to go to court the best thing to do is take the mans dog it doesn't deserve this kind of abuse..
Placing this individual in a State Hospital will cost the Tax payers 120K a month, the price that it would cost to taxpayers to see that he gets his meds and counseling even made mandatory would far out wight the costs of a hospital or prison.
@badcat @margay1 @lee986321 And your comments are easily identifiable by their lack of rational thought, and dependence on emotion v.s. actual facts.
 @margay1 @lee986321  Lee doesn't have a son named Michael and he's plagiarizing from this article: http://gawker.com/5968818/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother You can always tell when he's cutting/pasting someone else's words because they're spelled correctly and the sentences make sense. His own posts are almost completely incoherent.
 @lee986321 ~  Lee, I don't know your son, so I can't comment on whether he belongs in jail, a hospital, or neither of those.  Â
Where oh where have you EVER seen a post of mine that said we should "get rid of Medicare and/or Medicaid"..?!? Â Â I happen to HAVE Medicare, and so far, I'm happy with it, but that doesn't mean I don't think they should keep going after fraud and waste in the program. Â Same with Medicaid (which I DON'T have)... there's a lot of fraud and waste in that program, too, and they need to root it out and get rid of it, so that the program can really benefit the people it is supposed to help.
In re the man in this story, and based on the info in the story, it seems to me that this man DOES present serious potential for danger to himself and also to other people. Â (And yes; I agree about the dog; he shouldn't be left there.) Â Note in my comment, I didn't say the man necessarily belongs in prison; I said "secure hospital"; that is, where he can't just walk in and out at will, BUT where he will get help with whatever mental issues he has. Â (He's 69 years old; I'm wondering if he's perhaps a Viet Nam vet...I knew several of those men that came back just horribly messed up, but they never got much of anything in the way of help...)
I'm not suggesting we should be cruel to this man... I'm saying he needs to be OFF the streets - for his own protection and for everyone else's.
The mental illness throughout the world is alarming....
By the way a trained person on a sword can be very deadly.
 @lee986321 You dont have to be trained to be deadly with a sword.
and what is my best defense against someone with a sword?
Right, a gun. Something the left wants to take away from me.
or, in this case, a water cannon. ! don't care how big your sword is, you get hit by a water cannon, you will want to put away your toys and go home. Of course this dork has no home to go to now. Can't help but feel sorry for him, house burnning down this time of year. Hope when he gets out he has some family to crib with, crappy weather to be homeless in.
 @lee986321  Really? Wow, thanks for that bit of insider info. You must be a samurai warrior or something.
There can be only one!
Damn, every weapon I mentioned is now being used as a ..well ..a weapon.. Ok, I take no responsibility for the mentioning of any and all mid evil weapons that I have mentioned . that is scary though, the date I mentioned this weapon is the day it pops up on the news.. Still them Swords can be nasty..
well at least no one has used a cross bow. And I don't think any one will..So I am safe on that one.
@lee986321 or a potato pealer. Can't let them ban those!
 @lee986321 The public schools consider even scissors and pencils in the hands of grade-schoolers weapons these days.
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There's a simple way to keep your kids safe from random crazies like the guy in Connecticut, depraved pedophiles (and mundane incompetents) masquerading as educators, and even the indoctrination of "sameness" that is the primary purpose of the public schoolcare system, our nation's largest, most wasteful, least effective, highly fraudulent, entitlement program.
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Care enough about your kids to remove them from it.