This could have turned out very ugly. Yesterday, a suicidal man who approached a Portland officer with what looked like a rifle (it was really a BB gun), and threatened to use it, was taken down by that officer and placed under a mental health hold.

I've got a message into the cops asking for more details. But it mostly went down like this:

The armed man then crossed the street and approached the police car. The teenager saw the man approach and asked what he wanted at which point the man replied, "Don't be stupid." The teenager ran into his house and the officer got out of the patrol car to challenge the armed man.

The officer gave the armed man commands to drop the rifle and get onto the ground. The male refused and the officer was able to take the man to the ground using control holds and take him into custody.

Realistic-looking guns often provoke deadly force from cops. Two officers shot and killed a suicidal Bradley Morgan in January after he pointed a replica gun at them, and in March, another man, Jonah Potter, was wounded by police who said he had what turned out to be an air pistol. (Another man who threatened suicide, armed with large knives, was peaceably arrested in February.)

No sense rewriting the rest of the news release when a cut-and-paste will do. Hit the jump.

On Tuesday May 15, 2012, at approximately 10:30 p.m., Portland Police officers responded to the report of a man who called 9-1-1 stating that he had a gun and was "going to use it." Officers checked the area of Southeast 87th Avenue and Burnside Street for the man and did not locate him.

Several minutes later, an officer was stopped in the area talking to a teenager about an unrelated issue. Two other people were talking to each other across the street when a subject walked up to them, armed with a rifle, and asked if they were police officers. The two men said they were not but pointed to the officer parked across the street.

The armed man then crossed the street and approached the police car. The teenager saw the man approach and asked what he wanted at which point the man replied, "Don't be stupid." The teenager ran into his house and the officer got out of the patrol car to challenge the armed man.

The officer gave the armed man commands to drop the rifle and get onto the ground. The male refused and the officer was able to take the man to the ground using control holds and take him into custody.

The rifle turned out to be a BB rifle. The man indicated to the officer that he was suicidal and wanted the officer to shoot him.

The man, 45-year-old Timothy Harber, was given a citation for Disorderly Conduct and transported to an area hospital for mental health issues.