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Deputies de-escalate encounter with a man deemed mentally ill

South Whidbey Record - 4/24/2021

Deputies planned and enacted a de-escalation plan in order to deal with a volatile, mentally ill man who tore open a South Whidbey house with a pick axe and told police to shoot him April 20, according to court documents.

Early in the day, a couple of deputies and an Opioid Outreach worker met with Christopher Allen, 20, and spoke with him about his situation, according to a report by a deputy with the Island County Sheriff's Office.

That afternoon, a deputy encountered Allen walking shirtless in the middle of Cultus Bay Road. When told to get out of the road, Allen made wild allegations about officers and said the deputy would need to shoot him.

Recognizing that Allen had "poor mental health," the deputy decided to keep his distance and followed Allen in his car, the deputy said in his report.

But after Allen went to a neighbor's home, three deputies and the Langley police chief, who were all at the scene, approached him and offered help. Allen, however, became upset, claiming the deputies had "cut up" his family. He repeatedly asked them to shoot him.

The deputies discussed the situation and agreed it was best to allow Allen to return to his home instead of risking a potentially violent confrontation, the report states.

But that evening, deputies were called back because Allen ripped out an entire wall of his home with a pick axe and threatened to kill himself and two family members, according to a deputy's report.

Three deputies and two Langley police officers were "staged" near the house and planned a de-escalation procedure, the report states. They spoke to a family member who warned that Allen had repeatedly broken into a gun safe at the home.

Deputies searched the area for Allen and eventually found him walking on a trail with his hands concealed inside his hoodie. The officers managed to convince Allen to show his hands and he was arrested.

Allen appeared in Island County Superior Court the next day and the judge found there was probable cause to believe Allen committed felony harassment and malicious mischief in the third degree.

The judge set Allen's bail at $5,000 and ordered that a mental health professional interview him for possible commitment to a mental health facility.