Update: Marion County deputy reassigned after repeated punching of homeless man during arrest

A Marion County Sheriff's deputy was caught on video repeatedly punching a man who kept yelling and wouldn't stay away while emergency responders were coordinating a search for missing people on Monday. The county sheriff's office says deputies "were left with no choice but to" arrest him.

The video, taken by KGW, shows four county deputies grab hold of Kevin Straw, 28, near the post office in Detroit, about 50 miles east of Salem. At least one deputy tells Straw he's under arrest and they take him to the ground as he yells "no." Within seconds, one of the deputies punches Straw in the head at least two dozen times as he screams for help, for the hits to stop and that he isn't resisting.

"I came to warn you about the cougar," Straw yells at one point. "There's a cougar. It's hurting people."

The use of force occurred while Straw was physically resisting the deputies, according to the sheriff's office in a statement. He'd been earlier shouting near a police command post and radio operations center. Straw was so loud, the sheriff's office said, that rescuers couldn't hear or talk to searchers in the field trying to find a father and son who hadn't returned from a fishing trip.

Straw, who is homeless, kept returning after being told at least twice by deputies to leave, the sheriff's office said.

The deputies involved have not been identified by the sheriff's office, who said the footage would be reviewed by its agency, the county district attorney's office and later by another police department.

Deputies seized a large knife Straw was carrying, the sheriff's office said. The agency also said he will receive a mental health evaluation at the Psychiatric Crisis Center in Salem and likely be cited later for interfering with a police officer and resisting arrest.

Straw has been in the Detroit area for several weeks. He was yelling at strangers in Detroit about cougars and military special forces on Saturday and refused to go with members of a county crisis team who respond to calls involving people with an apparent mental illness, the sheriff's office said.

He left without arrest on that occasion.

According to the sheriff's office, Straw was taken into custody around 10:30 a.m. by deputies who were called off the search effort to interact with him.

The sheriff's office announced around 6 p.m. that the two missing men, Josh Cox and Corbin Cox, were found safe.

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey