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Officers responded to a call about a man smoking an unknown substance, threatening persons with a knife, breaking items and throwing objects while atop the fifteenth floor balcony of Departure, located in The Nines hotel, which is on top of Macy's, at 525 S.W. Morrison St.

(The Oregonian/OregonLive/file)

Portland police on Thursday night arrested a man accused of throwing objects from the 15th-floor balcony of downtown's Departure restaurant, threatening people with a knife, smoking an unknown substance and breaking items.

Matthew Lee Owen

Matthew Lee Owen, 57, was booked into the Multnomah County Jail on allegations of second-degree trespass, unlawful use of a weapon, menacing, second-degree disorderly conduct, first-degree criminal mischief and harassment.

A witness, in an interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive, praised police handling of the disturbance.

The incident, according to a Portland Police Bureau news release, unfolded like this:

At 7:29 p.m. Thursday, Central Precinct officers responded to the report of a man smoking an unknown substance, threatening people with a knife, breaking items and throwing objects while atop the 15th-floor balcony of Departure, located in The Nines hotel, which is on top of Macy's, at 525 S.W. Morrison St.

Irate WM out on patio Departure at the Nines. Throwing bricks and wood down below. Max and buses disrupted. — teresa long (@long_ter) December 30, 2016

People in the building were told not to exit onto nearby sidewalks. Streets and sidewalks were closed to pedestrian, vehicle and TriMet traffic.

Police negotiating...now talking to a guest thru the window on 14th floor.. https://t.co/k1UQf9avwL — teresa long (@long_ter) December 30, 2016

Crisis-intervention officers talked with the man, who initially didn't communicate with them and moved from a 15th-floor balcony to a 14th-floor roof structure.

The man tried to break a window with a hard object and enter an occupied, 14th-floor Nines hotel room. Officers used pepper spray, which police credited with stopping the man from breaking the window.

Now trying to break another window with a rock...Happeing on 14th floor balcony trying to get into hotel and away from Police. https://t.co/05Vb8e1T7y — teresa long (@long_ter) December 30, 2016

The man, after talking to officers, eventually agreed to come inside a 14th-floor room where he was arrested.

David Marshall said police used his hotel room to talk to the man.

Marshall, 52, and his wife, tourists from Central California, heard "shouts from upstairs like someone was throwing furniture and yelling."

He called The Nines front desk. "They said they were aware of the situation," Marshall said. "Then it went on some more ... more yelling, more noise, then someone banging on our window."

Tiffany Alonzo, who works in guest services for The Nines, said the hotel wouldn't comment about the incident.

To reach Marshall's window, the suspect had to maneuver from the 15-floor balcony down to a parapet next to hotel rooms on the floor below.

"He was on the roof making noise and shouting ... for a long time," Marshall said, "and then he jumped down to the parapet and banged on our window. Then he went to the next room, where they apparently had the curtains open and asked them to throw their TV out the window so he could get in. He was shouting that he thought the police wanted to kill him."

Police asked Marshall and his wife to use their room to try to talk to the man.

"At one point, there were six police officers in our room," he said. "They had us go to the lobby to get us out of the way."

Police eventually apprehended the suspect in Marshall's room, he said.

Marshall praised the police for their handling of the situation.

"They were very calm and steady while going about their work -- exactly the sort of behavior you'd want any police to exhibit in such circumstances," he said.

Because police used pepper spray in the room, The Nines management found another spot for the couple.

"They moved us to the second nicest suite in the hotel," he said.

-- Allan Brettman