2:40 PM: Sorry to have missed this unfolding during the hour we were mostly offline for the candidates’ forum, but reader texts and tweets tell much of the story: Police took into custody a man who had been in the water at Alki, holding what appeared to be a knife. One tweeted clip from just after noon shows officers standing on the beach facing the man; a texter just after 1 pm reported that police had the man in custody. We will be following up with police and will add anything more we find out.
3:38 PM: We found an officer here at Summer Fest who was familiar with the situation; it was a case of “person in crisis,” they tell us.
ADDED MONDAY MORNING: We followed up with SPD for details today. Det. Mark Jamieson tells us it indeed started as a “person in crisis” call around 11 am:
Officers arrived on scene and observed the subject 30 feet from shore and in waist deep water. The suspect was in possession of a knife and was displaying it to arriving officer. The subject made threats to harm self and officers. One officer was designated for CIT [Crisis Intervention] engagement with the subject. Negotiators and Harbor were notified and responded to the scene. Negotiators were able to build a rapport with the subject and he voluntarily released the knife. The subject then walked out of the water and surrendered peacefully. The subject was medically evaluated by SFD at the scene for hypothermia after being in the water for over two hours. The subject was then transported to the hospital for a mental evaluation.
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