NE Bend standoff update: Man who police say tried to burn house down leaves hospital, is caught

(Update: Bend PD details on walkaway from hospital; no new charges)

Police say he had poured gallon of flammable Acetone in barricaded bathroom

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A standoff with a domestic violence suspect ended dramatically at his northeast Bend home Wednesday evening when he used a gallon of acetone to try to make good on his threat to burn the house down -- but was stopped by officers and the bite of Deschutes County sheriff’s K-9 Ronin, police said. On Thursday morning, he walked away from the hospital, but was caught about 20 minutes later, not far away.

The events began with a call to Bend police around 12:30 p.m. from a third party reporting a co-worker may have been the victim of domestic violence, Bend police Sgt. Rob Emerson said. Police went to the couple’s home in the 2800 block of Northeast Sedalia Loop and were able to contact the victim, getting her to meet them away from the home.

Emerson said they learned the 32-year-old woman had been a domestic violence victim, with likely charges to follow of four-degree assault, strangulation and menacing. They also learned the 33-year-old male resident, who police did not identify, had destroyed the woman’s phone, to prevent her from calling police. The alleged victim used a work cellphone to call the third party.

Police also learned the man had been acting erratic, was likely under the influence of various drugs (as evidence would later show) and last was seen using furniture in the home to barricade himself in an upstairs bedroom, the sergeant said.

The suspect indicated he would burn the house down if police were contacted and also made other threats that raised the risk to him, police and citizens in the neighborhood. So the Central Oregon Emergency Response Team (CERT) was called in to assist, along with K-9 Ronin and partner Deputy Michael Magnin.

CERT arrived around 2:30 p.m. and tried contacting the man over a public address system and by phone with crisis negotiators, Emerson said. Meanwhile, several neighbors were contacted and asked to shelter in place. When the man wouldn’t answer the phone, a negotiator was called to the scene and tried to reason with him over the PA system.

CERT made continued attempts to get the man to come out, while Bend police applied for a search warrant for the suspect and his home. Emerson said the warrant was granted around 2:20 p.m. and CERT informed the suspect, telling him he needed to come out, but he still refused to comply.

The suspect was then told if he did not comply, he’d be subject to chemical munitions, and/or a police K-9. Eventually, CERT introduced chemical agents (a CS powder) into the rooms they believed the suspect was barricaded in, again with no response.

Emerson said the CERT members entered the home, with K-9 Ronin and partner, and found the suspect barricaded in the master bathroom. They forced entry into the bathroom and learned he had barricaded himself further, in a walk-in closet within the master bathroom.

A crisis negotiator entered the home “to attempt to reason with the suspect,” Emerson said in a news release, “but the suspect still would not comply and began making attempts to harm himself and the officers by starting a fire.”

The man had emptied a gallon of highly flammable Acetone in the closet and was trying to use a lighter to start the fire while making threats to “burn the house down,” Emerson said.

CERT members forced entry into the closet, allowing the door to open enough to let K-9 Ronin enter and stop him from starting the fire. A struggle ensued with the suspect, Emerson said, as he resisted attempts to arrest him. He ultimately was subdued by CERT members and Ronin.

After the incident ended, around 6 p.m., the man was taken by Bend Fire ambulance to St. Charles Bend to be treated for injuries related to the dog bite and other medical issues, Emerson said.

Emerson said it’s expected the man will be charged with two counts of menacing, strangulation, fourth-degree assault (domestic violence), coercion, fourth-degree attempted assault, criminal mischief, resisting arrest, attempted assault on a police officer and interfering with making a police report.

Lt. Juli McConkey said police were dispatched to the hospital around 8:43 a.m. Thursday for a patient who left without authorization. It turned out to be the man arrested at the Sedalia Loop address.

The man, wearing his undergarments and wrapped in a hospital blanket, left from the Emergency Department entrance and was located by officers within 10 minutes in the 2100 block of Kim Lane, McConkey said.

"Officers were able to successfully negotiate with the male and take him into custody," McConkey said, and Bend Fire & Rescue transported him back to the hospital. And once again, police were assisted by K-9 Ronin and Deputy Mangin, though he was not bitten this time.

After his recapture, the man was released from the hospital and taken to the county jail. McConkey said there are no new charges stemming from his leaving the hospital.