WATCH: Protesters Hamstring Portland Police Efforts to Help Armed Suicidal Man

Protesters in Portland, Oregon, hampered police efforts to take care of a suicidal man armed with a knife. The crowd of protesters continued to agitate the man who threatened to kill himself despite pleas from the man’s mother to stop.

Portland Police Bureau officers responded to a call on January 15 about a man who jumped from a second-story window and began wielding a knife at passersby, according to police officials. When officers arrived, the man held the knife to his neck and threatened to kill himself if police came closer.

An officer with the Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team arrived and began talking to the man while other officers attempted to clear the streets to reduce the man’s stress.

Officers learned the man was schizophrenic and extremely paranoid, officials reported. He threatened to kill himself and to hurt others. Police officers backed off and continued to communicate with the man in an effort to peacefully resolve the matter.

After about 90 minutes, crowds of protesters began to show up and create chaos. The crowd began chanting at police and used a bullhorn which served to increase the suicidal man’s agitation.

A video tweeted by independent journalist Andy Ngo shows police trying to move the people back from the scene in an effort to calm the distraught man.

While Portland Police were trying to calm a suicidal man w/a knife yesterday in downtown, #antifa gathered using a bullhorn to try & stop them. It made the man more agitated. After hours, police tased him. He was uninjured but antifa nearly rioted. pic.twitter.com/UdMfsQTGIf

— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) January 16, 2021

Police officials say the crowd of protesters refused to comply with their orders to reduce the noise. The crowd refused to comply even when begged by the suicidal man’s mother, police stated.

Instead, police report, the crowd began to threaten officers forcing a major law enforcement response to the scene. The officers were forced to don helmets and face shields to protest themselves from the “hostile crowd.”

After about three hours, police utilized a barking K-9 to distract the man so other officers could safely approach and use a taser to take him down. The officers gained possession of the knife and took the man into custody.

An ambulance crew transported the uninjured man to a hospital under a Police Officer Hold enabling doctors to provide a proper evaluation of the man’s mental health condition.