No one could have said it better than the prosecutor: Hugh Neustel had a very bad day.

to play on the merry-go-round in the early evening of July 26. But Neustel discovered the lot near the playground was off-limits because a summer concert was about to begin and performers, support staff and the disabled were the only ones allowed to park there.

When a park volunteer told him so, Neustel ignored her by parking his car in the lot anyway. That set off an ugly chain of events: The volunteer used a vulgarity to describe Neustel, he spit in her face, she kicked him, he retrieved a loaded 9 mm semiautomatic gun from his car and carried it over to the bustling playground, and police responded at gunpoint with orders for Neustel to raise his hands in the air.

Neustel placed the gun in his pocket and walked away from police before briefly lifting his hands into the air and grabbing his daughter off the merry-go-round. He used her -- in the words of police -- as a human shield. One police officer testified that he didn't know that the girl, who was hysterically crying in Neustel's arms, was Neustel's daughter.

"I'm thinking ...this is an armed guy who has kidnapped a child. ...We're probably going to have to take a head shot to save the kid," testified Officer Julian Carroll, during a trial in Multnomah County Circuit Court earlier this week.

Carroll also radioed for an officer with a rifle to show up. But before that officer got there, Neustel gave up when another officer pointed the beam of his Taser at him.

Neustel contended it was all a big misunderstanding. He claimed police overreacted and that he'd violated no laws because he had a concealed weapons permit. But a jury found him guilty of all five counts against him: unlawful use of a weapon, disorderly conduct, harassment, reckless endangerment and interfering with a police officer.

Friday, Judge Christopher Marshall sentenced Neustel to 180 days in jail, three years probation and possible drug, alcohol and mental-health treatment.

But it is not the end of troubles for Neustel, who just after sentencing was arraigned on the charge of tampering with a witness. Prosecutor Traci Anderson alleges that -- just as the trial was starting -- Neustel told the mother of his child that if she testified against him he would cut off child support and post naked photos of her on the Internet.

Neustel also has a rough road ahead with his daughter. At the time of the incident, Neustel had visitation with his daughter. But since the incident, a judge refused to let Neustel go trick-or-treating with the girl or spend time with her on Christmas. Relatives say she was so traumatized by the incident she was afraid to return to Mt. Tabor Park to play. She has been receiving counseling.

Also, according to his own public defender, Jessica Minifie, Neustel has a long history of substance abuse -- most recently with inhalents. Minifie told the judge that jail time wouldn't help her client.

"What Mr. Neustel needs is insight," Minifie said. She described his decision at Mt. Tabor Park as "impulsive."

But in giving Neustel jail time, the judge said he hoped it would help clear Neustel's system of drugs and give him time to realize that he's got problems with which he needs to deal. The judge urged him to embrace treatment. The judge told Neustel he's lucky police didn't shoot him, and if they had, the judge suspects a grand jury would have found their actions justified.

The judge also said he didn't think highly of a jail phone recording of Neustel blasting the prosecutor, the police and even his own attorney for landing him in the predicament he's in today. The judge commended all of them for doing their jobs.

"You need some help," said Marshall, the judge. "...No one wants to see you back here. ...You've got some decisions to make."

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