A homeless person repeatedly punched by a Marion County sheriff's deputy while being arrested in the Salem area Monday called for the deputies involved to receive more training on conflict negotiation and for the deputy who unleashed the blows to be fired.

Tessa Lovelace said the encounter with deputies in Detroit resulted in a concussion, bloody nose, bruising, cuts and some hearing loss. Lovelace insisted Lovelace's only goal was to warn of wild animals.

"I'm not a deranged individual," Lovelace told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Wednesday. "And at no point was I resisting. I chose to relax and let the deputies do what they wanted. And they did."

Lovelace identifies as non-binary, prefers the pronouns they/them, and has been referred to by police under the legal name Kevin Straw.

Video of the arrest taken by KGW shows Lovelace, 28, being taken to the ground by four county deputies and punched in the head at least 14 times by one of them. A fifth deputy joins the fray after the takedown of Lovelace, who is heard yelling for help.

"I came to warn you about the cougar," Lovelace yells at one point in the video. "There's a cougar. It's hurting people." Lovelace hasn't seen the video footage.

The sheriff's office said Lovelace kept yelling while deputies and rescue crews were searching for two missing fishermen in the area. At points they couldn't hear or talk over radios with searchers in the field because of the disruption.

Lovelace was told by deputies to leave twice and was later arrested after not staying away from where the search and rescue crews were working, the sheriff's office said. A knife was taken from Lovelace.

Lovelace has been cited for interfering with a police officer and resisting arrest, the sheriff's office said.

Lovelace has been at the Psychiatric Crisis Center in Salem since Monday and isn't sure when a release will occur. Lovelace said doctors have diagnosed depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and being on the autism spectrum.

Lovelace said Lovelace is a software developer who has been camping in Detroit, about 50 miles east of Salem, for about three weeks. Lovelace was evicted from a Portland apartment in May, Oregon court records show.

The sheriff's office said witnesses reported Lovelace was shouting at strangers about cougars and military special forces two days before the arrest. Lovelace said one of the deputies involved in Monday's arrest responded to the call then and Lovelace was told repeatedly to leave town.

Lovelace said Lovelace camps in an area at least a mile outside of town and saw what appeared to be a large cat walking outside Lovelace's tent early Monday morning. Hours later, Lovelace said, Lovelace rode a bike into town to garden and saw the search and rescue mission.

Lovelace wanted to warn the crews that there could be a large cat in the area.

"There was a carnivore in the woods and I was projecting what I was saying clearly so they could hear me," Lovelace said. "That's not yelling, that's just public speaking and I was speaking in public."

Lovelace gave this account: The same deputy from the weekend told Lovelace several times to leave. Lovelace ran some errands, and then encountered the deputy a third time. Lovelace said that's when he and the other deputies grabbed hold of Lovelace.

Lovelace didn't reach behind Lovelace's back as the deputies ordered for fear that police would think Lovelace was reaching for the knife, which Lovelace described as a wood-carving tool. Lovelace said the punches came as a shock.

"They just kept coming," Lovelace said. "I was trying to show them that I was calm and wasn't going to hurt them and I'm not sure it mattered."

"The whole thing shouldn't have happened," Lovelace said.

Deputy Jake Thompson, who punched Lovelace, has been temporarily reassigned to a non-patrol position as the sheriff's office conducts an internal investigation of the arrest and video footage. No status changes have been announced for the other deputies involved, who've been identified by the sheriff's office as Derrick Ramseyer, Dave Zahn, Ethan Griffith and Mark Ferron.

The sheriff's office said the county DA's office will also review the case as well as another law enforcement agency.

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey