PORTLAND, Ore. — A woman died at Adventist Health in Southeast Portland on Dec. 24 after police officers drove her there after she asked to be taken to the hospital for "mental health reasons," the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) reported Wednesday.
Police did not report the name of the woman or what caused her death. In a news release, PPB said because the woman was not in custody and was in the hospital when she died, it's not a "police-involved death," and the Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office is in charge of the death investigation. The woman has been identified and her family has been notified, but the medical examiner has not reported her cause and manner of death at this time.
On Dec. 24 at 10:58 p.m., PPB said officers responded to a "report of a priority threat call" in the area of Southeast 160th Avenue and Division Street. The woman who made the call was standing in the parking lot of the apartment complex. Police said she was "conscious, alert, and talking." She told officers she didn't want to report a crime, and officers didn't note any sign of injury. The woman, who was 69 years old, asked police to go to the hospital for "mental health reasons," PPB reported.
Officers requested an ambulance but were told by dispatchers that none were available, so they offered to take to the woman to the hospital. After the woman agreed, officers patted her down for weapons, per policy requirement, but didn't handcuff her because she wasn't in custody. The woman was free to go at any time, police said.
When they got close to the hospital, the officer who was monitoring the woman from the passenger seat noticed she was no longer talking to them and had started to slump over in the back seat. The officers sped up and when they arrived at the emergency room, one officer checked on the woman while the other ran inside to ask for help, according to PPB.
The woman, who was unconscious, was taken inside the hospital, where she died, police reported.
Two days after the woman died, a man called police, said he was her boyfriend and tried to report her missing. Officers spoke to the man, told him what happened and said they'd answer any questions he had.
