On Thursday morning, November 14th, just after 9:00am, officers were dispatched to the area of the Medford Center for a female who was suicidal and armed with a knife. The caller was known to the 33 year old suicidal female.
Officers located the female behind Safeway, who was armed with a steak knife and holding it to her throat. As officers neared, she ran eastbound towards Crater Lake Avenue. An officer blocked her path with his vehicle and she turned back westbound, before stopping against a concrete wall to her back.
Officers approached her on foot and attempted to talk with her. All of the officers on scene were trained in crisis intervention and one officer was trained as a crisis negotiator. Jackson County Mental Health was summoned to the scene as well as an ambulance.
The suicidal female had significant swings in behavior and at times became enraged and screamed unintelligibly, while at times still holding the knife to her throat. After about 40 minutes of negotiations, the female’s behavior was escalating and officers feared for her safety. She was wearing thick clothing which could inhibit the effectiveness of a taser.
One officer deployed at 40mm foam baton round, and another officer deployed a taser. This caused her to drop the knife and she was safely taken into custody.
She had minor injuries from the use of force and was transported for treatment and for her mental health crisis.
