Attempted kidnapping, break-in at day care likely tied to mental health issues, docs say
PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — A high visibility attempted kidnapping on the Portland waterfront and a day care break-in witnessed by children -- two separate incidents -- were, according to court documents, likely related to mental health issues and drug psychosis. The incidents shook Portlanders.
Portland police say high impact crimes triggered by mental health and drugs are hardly new and continue to strain police resources while traumatizing civilians.
During an interview with KATU, Portland Police Bureau spokesperson Kevin Allen broke down the difficulties in responding to situations like these.
"When somebody who is affected by drugs or alcohol or is affected by mental illness and is acting in a way that causes fear in the community, obviously they're going to call the police, and they're going to want police to be there to help with that. But those are very challenging calls for us to get because we have to be very mindful that there's a mental health component to it and tailor our response based on what we have in front of us," Allen said.
He pointed to the example of the alleged attempted kidnapping which initially came into dispatch as concerned callers reporting a naked man wandering around the Tom McCall Waterfront Park on Saturday, July 11.
Police were not immediately able to respond to the calls which up to the point of the alleged attempted kidnapping did not report any criminal behavior.
"The first calls that came in were basically of a man with no clothing kind of creeping people out. That's a call we get a lot, frankly. And so, you know, it's a challenging call because what he's doing is not exactly illegal," Allen said. "People are often surprised by that but it's actually not illegal to be naked. That's why we have the naked bike ride every year. That's not illegal to do that."
A little less than 15 minutes after the first call came in, police were dispatched to reports of an attempted kidnapping.
A 7-year-old girl on vacation in Portland with her family was allegedly grabbed on the arm by a naked man who persistently tried to pull her away from her mother.
Witnesses told police the mother continued to hold on as the man allegedly continued to try and pry the girl away, with the situation escalating to the point where the young girl was lifted off her feet.
It allegedly took her father's intervention along with multiple bystanders to get the man to let go of her. Witnesses reported 31-year-old Daniel Vasey had been claiming he was God.
According to court documents, when police arrived on scene, they found Vasey wading in the Willamette River and arrested him. When asked what had happened, he allegedly told officers that he did not know and that he might be "having a manic episode," adding that he had not slept in a few days and had recently been to the hospital for mental health reasons.
Court documents note that police believed Vasey to be homeless, and based on his statements, they believed the incident was "indicative of mental illness, drug induced psychosis, or some combination thereof."
Court documents note that Vasey had just been released from jail where he had been booked due to a trespassing incident that allegedly took place outside Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center, which he had visited reporting sleep deprivation. Just prior to his discharge he had allegedly tried to punch out a parked car's window on hospital property before being confronted by security and charging at them.
Vasey's public defender has filed a motion asking a judge to find that he is not fit to aid in his legal defense. The motion notes that because of his mental state the attorney has not been able to consult with him.
Just four days after the incident which traumatized a 7-year-old and her family visiting the city, Portland police officers responded to reports of a man breaking into an occupied day care the morning of Wednesday, July 15.
During an interview with KATU, the Southeast Portland home day care owner said she had just unlocked the back door to take the five kids under seven in her care outside into her backyard when she was faced with a man breaking in.
"It was so scary, and I don't think it's fair for little ones to live these kind of things," Claudia Juarez told KATU, noting that the man pointed at her with his hand shaped like a gun and said "shoot, shoot, shoot."
She said she managed to get him back outside and locked the back door, but he continued trying to break in as she called 911.
According to court documents, 41-year-old Ivan Borisovich Golovin was arrested nearby and told police he had taken meth prior to the incident. Court records show he has a lengthy rap sheet, including multiple convictions and a prison sentence for car theft.
This year alone he had two car theft cases dismissed. KATU has emailed the district attorney's office to understand why the charges did not stick and has not received a response yet.
He only faces misdemeanor charges in the day care break-in and bail has been set at $5,000.
Allen noted that cases with a mental health or drug psychosis element are hardly rare but anecdotally he says it feels as if they have been increasing over the past few years.
"It is hard to quantify whether it's increasing or not. It feels like it is. And over the course of many years where we have updated our policies and procedures with regard to use of force, de-escalation, communication, the expectations of the police and how they deal with people in those sticky middle situations has changed," Allen said. "So now, instead of maybe just putting someone in handcuffs and taking them to jail on a lower-level charge or taking them to detox, we may want to take a little more time to communicate with somebody, bring in extra resources like police, street response, for example. All of those things are great. And I'm not saying that we shouldn't be doing those things, but they do take more time. They do take that officer off the board. They're no longer available to go to other police calls. And so it is a resource issue."
The agency has recently undergone a budget cut along with numerous other city bureaus and services.
When asked about solutions to this issue Allen said much of this is a societal issue that requires a multiagency, multispectrum level of solutions. He encouraged residents who are concerned about this type of issue to get involved and talk to local leaders about the problem and how they would like to see it solved.
"What I would like to see is a greater conversation that involves the community on what they want to see. From the larger criminal justice, mental health, medical system, to deal with folks that are sort of in this difficult sort of middle of the roads situation. Where they're causing fear in the community because of their activities and their actions. But the level of the crimes that they're committing are not high enough that they're going to stay locked up for very long," he said. "Things only get better when the community gets involved. The Police Bureau, we're here to serve the community, but we can't do what we do without the support and involvement of the community. We look forward to, you know, the time where we can all have that conversation."
Allen pointed out that the county's sobering center, which is expected to come online in the fall of 2027, is one solution that will likely help alleviate some of the impacts of drugs and mental health on public safety.
For behavioral health calls where police believe an individual is a danger to themselves or others they are currently able to put the individual on a mental health hold and take them to a hospital. However, not all calls rise to that level, sometimes public intoxication, which is not a crime in Oregon, disrupts the community and causes concern but does not qualify for a mental health hold.
Police are able to call services like Portland Street Response which ca