Police: Topless woman charged at cops with meat cleaver
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Neighbors had said the woman had been "acting very strange," "outside the apartment completely naked and shouting nonsense."
When police arrived to check on the woman on Sunday, they found on the ground a window screen the woman had reportedly pushed out from her second-floor apartment. And they could hear a vacuum running inside the woman's place in the 8100 block of SE Mill St.
Police knocked on the door of 61-year-old Phyllis Ann Lasich and told her they'd brought up her window screen.
The two officers then heard "a loud crashing noise inside the apartment. The door quickly opened and Lasich, wielding a meat cleaver, yelled, 'Die, (expletive)!" according to the police statement.
"Officer (Michael) Filbert quickly moved back as the cleaver hit him between his radio holder and his left hip, narrowly missing his body," investigators wrote.
The targeted officer drew his weapon while backing away as the other officer pointed his stun gun at the woman. Both officers ordered the woman to drop the knife, to no avail.
"Lasich continued to swing the cleaver in wild slashes, but got caught up in the window screen that had been set against her door," the statement said. "Lasich was topless and screaming that she was going to kill the officers."
The woman eventually lay down on the ground in compliance with the officers' commands, investigators said.
"As the officers took Lasich in to custody, she told them, 'Thank God you are here! They've been coming to kill me all day!'" according to the statement.
The woman was taken to an area hospital to be examined. She has not been charged.
The two involved officers - Filbert and Brent Maxey - are said to be 11-year and 8-year veterans of the force, respectively.
When police arrived to check on the woman on Sunday, they found on the ground a window screen the woman had reportedly pushed out from her second-floor apartment. And they could hear a vacuum running inside the woman's place in the 8100 block of SE Mill St.
Police knocked on the door of 61-year-old Phyllis Ann Lasich and told her they'd brought up her window screen.
The two officers then heard "a loud crashing noise inside the apartment. The door quickly opened and Lasich, wielding a meat cleaver, yelled, 'Die, (expletive)!" according to the police statement.
"Officer (Michael) Filbert quickly moved back as the cleaver hit him between his radio holder and his left hip, narrowly missing his body," investigators wrote.
The targeted officer drew his weapon while backing away as the other officer pointed his stun gun at the woman. Both officers ordered the woman to drop the knife, to no avail.
"Lasich continued to swing the cleaver in wild slashes, but got caught up in the window screen that had been set against her door," the statement said. "Lasich was topless and screaming that she was going to kill the officers."
The woman eventually lay down on the ground in compliance with the officers' commands, investigators said.
"As the officers took Lasich in to custody, she told them, 'Thank God you are here! They've been coming to kill me all day!'" according to the statement.
The woman was taken to an area hospital to be examined. She has not been charged.
The two involved officers - Filbert and Brent Maxey - are said to be 11-year and 8-year veterans of the force, respectively.
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