A 7-year-old tourist was pulled into a terrifying struggle at a Portland waterfront park when a naked man allegedly grabbed her arm and tried to drag her away from her mother before her family and bystanders fought him off.
The Saturday night attack at Tom McCall Waterfront Park unfolded after police had already been warned that a nude man was running loose in the area, but no patrol unit was free to take the call.
Before the child was grabbed, dispatchers had received reports from the park about a naked man allegedly menacing people nearby. One caller said the man had tried to punch them in the head.
The next call changed the urgency. A child had allegedly been seized, and the man was trying to yank her away from her mother.
Police later described a tug-of-war over the girl, with the suspect allegedly gripping one arm as the child’s mother held the other and refused to let go.
The struggle was violent enough to lift the girl off the ground.
The girl’s father and people nearby piled on to break his grip, hitting, pulling and slapping at him before one bystander used pepper spray to keep him back. Police identified the suspect as 31-year-old Daniel Vasey.
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By the time officers got to the park at 7:13 p.m., the confrontation had moved to the Willamette River, where Vasey was wading before officers arrested him without another struggle.
The girl was looked over by paramedics at the scene and treated for scratches. Police said she was not seriously injured and was not taken by ambulance to a hospital.
Her family told officers they were visiting Portland on a trip from out of state.
At the Multnomah County Detention Center, the case was booked as attempted kidnapping in the first and second degree, custodial interference in the first degree, third-degree assault and harassment.
The park arrest came after another run-in that same day. In Gresham, prosecutors said Vasey had been booked and released after allegedly trespassing at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center, assaulting a hospital security guard and being pepper sprayed.
Two hours later, police say, he was arrested again at the waterfront park.
The alleged kidnapping attempt happened just blocks from Portland Police’s Central Precinct, turning the bureau’s response time into part of the story.
Deputy Chief Brian Hughes put the delay on a basic numbers problem.
“We don’t have the appropriate amount of police officers to handle the amount of demand for police services,” Hughes commented to KOIN.
Central Precinct was running below its own minimum target, with Hughes putting the shift at 41 officers, 13 short of where the bureau says it should have been.
Officers were also tied up with life-threatening emergencies, including a domestic violence incident involving an armed suspect.
About a mile away in Old Town, another emergency had officers tied to a barricaded-suspect call, FOX 12 Oregon reported.
Hughes explained that tactical calls can demand extra staffing because officers have to be ready if a suspect runs or fires a weapon.
“It’s just triaging calls as they come in on the street, as opposed to having enough officers to handle each call as they came in,” Hughes said.
He also rejected the idea that detectives handling homicides, robberies and assaults can drop those investigations to answer 911 calls.
“They’re resource intensive. And so when you have a draw like that, it really puts a drain on the entire city, not just that precinct,” Hughes said of the Old Town SWAT threat.
The case landed as the bureau was already trying to show the public what thin patrol staffing does to emergency response times across Portland.
Vasey appeared Monday in Multnomah County Circuit Court and pleaded not guilty.
In Mississippi, another naked-man emergency ended in gunfire after a homeowner’s doorbell camera caught a nude man walking up to homes near the Biloxi River.
The first warning came from Woolmarket Lake Road, where a nude man had allegedly come out of the water and started approaching homes around 8 p.m. on a Saturday, WLOX reported.
A doorbell camera alerted one homeowner who was away from the property, prompting him to call the neighbor next door.
The neighbor went over to see if the man needed help. Instead, police told WLOX, the man attacked him.
The neighbor shot the man several times during the confrontation, but the wounded man allegedly managed to take the gun before retreating into the river.
A search-and-rescue team was brought in, and the man was found dead in the water around 2 a.m. Sunday.
The man found in the river was later identified by Harrison County Coroner Brian Switzer as Peter Virden III, 31, of Gulfport, with multiple gunshot wounds, according to WLOX.
Police said the neighbor was left with facial cuts and bruises but was not severely injured.
Officials also reviewed home security video that captured the entire incident, WLOX reported.
In Florida, a bizarre resort case ended with 51-year-old Kevin Westerhold being detained in Oviedo on Jan. 27, days after deputies were called about alleged lewd behavior outside a residence.
The earlier call took Osceola County deputies to Windsor Hills Resort in Kissimmee on Jan. 22, where witnesses described a partially clothed man acting inappropriately.
“Witnesses provided statements and a cell phone recording showing a partially clothed male engaged in inappropriate conduct,” the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office stated.
Witnesses alleged Westerhold was “engaged in a sexual performance with a vacuum cleaner,” according to WAGMTV.
Deputies did not find Westerhold at the resort, but Oviedo Police later picked him up near his home.
He was booked into Seminole County Jail on one count of exposing sexual organs.
