PORTLAND, Ore. — Officials say a Portland officer is recovering from being pepper-sprayed after a man broke his patrol car window and sprayed the interior of the car.
On Sunday at around 9:30 a.m., the officer was doing paperwork in his patrol car near South Corbett Avenue and South Lane Street when a man came up to the car, broke out the hatch window and pepper-sprayed the inside of the car. The man ran off to a car and drove away, police said.
The officer broadcast information about the man on the radio, police said, and officers stopped the suspect's car about 6 blocks away and the man was arrested.
Inside the suspect's car, police found a window punch tools, pepper spray, throwing knives, a laser pointer, a slingshot and rocks.
John B. Russell, 41, of Portland, was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on charges of Assaulting a Public Safety Officer, Aggravated Harassment, and Criminal Mischief in the First Degree.
"As police officers, we know that the vast majority of community members who approach and contact us do so with no intention to do us harm," said Chief Chuck Lovell. "However, attacks like this one remind us all that there is the potential for people to try to take direct violent action against police officers.”
