- Lake County News reports
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Police safely detain man with knives
The officers encountered the man – whose name is not being released – when they responded to a call just after 8:15 a.m. Friday, according to a report from Sgt. Rodd Joseph.
Joseph said officers responded to the 6100 block of Old Highway 53 on a report of a man holding a knife to his own chest. A passerby had called 911 after spotting the man, but had no other information on the subject.
Officers arrived and located the subject in the wooded dry creek area to the rear of the Cedar Village Apartment complex. Joseph said the subject was holding a large knife in one hand and had a second large knife pressed into his upper chest.
Initially the man was noncommunicative with officers who worked on establishing rapport with the man, Joseph said.
Joseph said that, after a short while, officers were able to convince the man to drop one of the knives, but the man kept the other pressed into his chest.
Lake County Behavioral Health social workers arrived on scene and continued building rapport with the distraught man, Joseph said.
After about a 20-minute standoff, the man dropped the other knife he was holding and safely surrendered to officers on scene. Joseph said the man was transported to Adventist Health Clear Lake for a mental health evaluation.
The Clearlake Police Department thanked the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, the California Highway Patrol and Lake County Behavioral Health Services for their immediate assistance in helping resolve a potentially dangerous situation.