Police arrested a man armed with a knife and a hot dog skewer Tuesday afternoon after they said he tried to hold a passenger and a MAX train operator hostage and refused to let them get off at the Mt. Hood Avenue light-rail station at the northern end of Cascade Station.
No one was harmed, North Precinct Cmdr. Tina Jones said, speaking from the location near Portland International Airport.
The call came in at 2:18 p.m. from the 9200 block of Northeast Cascades Parkway, drawing more than 18 officers. Members of the Police Bureau’s Special Emergency Reaction Team, the Crisis Negotiation Team and transit police responded.
Police found the armed man, who declared he wasn’t going to let another passenger off the train and grabbed hold of one male passenger’s hand, Jones said.
“He was yelling. He was really agitated. Officers tried establishing communication with him. At one point, he was yelling these are his hostages,” she said.
At one point, the man put down the knife and skewer and officers deployed two flash-bang grenades to disorient him, allowing police to rescue the passenger and the train operator to escape, Jones said.
Police identified him as 41-year-old Marcus Dwaine Tate.
The day before, officers had encountered Tate and placed him on a mental health hold at a local hospital, Jones said. He had since been released, she said.
She said she wasn’t sure where the Monday encounter occurred, but that Tate had been medically sedated after a physical struggle with police.
Tate also was charged May 7 with interfering with public transportation in the 2500 block of West Burnside Road. The case is pending.
The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office and transit police are taking the lead on Tuesday’s investigation.
Tate is expected to be booked into the downtown jail on allegations of interfering with public transportation, first-degree robbery, second-degree robbery, coercion and two counts each of menacing, harassment and unlawful use of a weapon, authorities said.
— Maxine Bernstein
Email mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212
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