MARSHALL TOWNSHIP, MI (WNWN/WTVB) – Deputies from the Calhoun County Office of the Sheriff along with the Michigan State Police took a man into custody during the overnight hours in the 200 block of West Drive North in Marshall Township after the suicidal man threatened others with a knife.
The 36-year-old man from Marshall had earlier contacted dispatchers and said he was suicidal and armed and that he wanted to be killed by the police.
The man was said to be uncooperative and continued to call into dispatch demanding a police response. He also threatened to start harming other innocent people until Law Enforcement arrived. Mental health workers from Summit Pointe tried to talk to him but he refused any help.
A Sheriff’s Office crisis negotiator was called in to assist in diffusing the situation. The negotiator was able to talk with the subject for a short time before he abruptly ended the phone call and came out of his residence with a large knife.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, officers ordered him to stop and drop the knife but he raised it and began advancing toward officers while continuing to ignore their commands. A Deputy then used non-lethal beanbag munitions which caused the man to drop the knife. He became disoriented enough for other Deputies and Troopers to get close enough to use other less then lethal means to take him into custody without serious injury.
The man was then taken to the hospital for a medical and mental health evaluation.
The situation was handled cooperatively by the Calhoun County Sheriffs Office and the Michigan State Police with assistance from the Marshall Police Department, Calhoun County Consolidated Dispatch and Marshall Firefighters Ambulance.
