Update: Video released of police tackling man at Washoe County meeting

Update Thursday 10:45 a.m.: Washoe County has released video of the public meeting on Monday that includes a man's attempt to drink from a Roundup bottle before being tackled and arrested by police.

In the video, Ross Tisevich, who goes by Ross Tisarich, approaches the lectern during the public comment portion of the meeting, protests the local government use of pesticides and then attempts to drink from a Roundup bottle before being tackled by police.

Original story:

The agitated man wearing a red sweatshirt who rushed into the Washoe County Commission chambers on Monday and began pacing in the lobby was already familiar to Reno City Council members.

“Hurry up,” the man muttered to his friend as they walked quickly into the building past a Reno Gazette-Journal reporter. “We have to be the first to get our (comment) card in.”

A half hour later, after the man pulled a Roundup bottle out of his shirt and started to drink from it during public comment, police tackled him, handcuffed him and led him out of building.

“It’s a joke! It’s a joke,” he shouted. “It’s just water.”

Ross Tisevich, who goes by Ross Tisarich on social media, had been to Reno City Council meetings before to protest the city’s pesticide use.

The first time, in May, he was cheered on by fellow activists who had been working with the city to eliminate pesticides. Then two weeks ago, he showed up to Reno City Council in an angry state and made little sense when he took the microphone during public comment.

“Hillary Schieve, you know you’re giving me a dirty look, you gave me a dirty look last time,” he shouted. “Who gave you guys the right to spray poisonous chemicals in our drinking water?”

“What are you going to do about it? Do something about it!” he continued to shout. “Do something about it! I’m really upset about this.”

In the days before Monday’s meeting, Tisevich had begun to post Facebook comments and sending excessive text messages to at least one council member and other activists, Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve said.

He began threatening to spray council members with weed killer to make his point or even drink it himself.

That’s when the other activists went to police.

“He had shared he was going to do pretty serious things, more serious than what he ended up doing,” said Sandy Rowley, an activist who has been urging the city to stop pesticide use to save declining bee populations. “I and other groups tried to talk him out of it. He talked about pretty scary things. Then we contacted the authorities to say something’s not right here.”

So when Reno council members noticed him pacing outside the meeting they were set to have with Sparks City Council and the Washoe County Commission, they decided to delay the meeting until police officers could arrive to provide security.

Reno Police Chief Jason Soto said he couldn’t be specific about what reported threats they had received, but said he was concerned enough to ask for additional security at the meeting.

“We did have Mr. Tisevich on our radar screen,” Soto said. “We were there for a reason: To stop him from drinking his liquid, what turned out to be Jell-O.”

When Tisevich first began speaking, he pulled a gas mask out of his sweatshirt and put it on his face. Concerned audience and council members began shifting in their seats as police officers began creeping toward Tisevich.

Tisevich then pulled out the Roundup bottle and began to drink, prompting officers, including Soto and Sparks Police Chief Brian Allen, to tackle him.

He immediately began shouting that it was water and food coloring and that his demonstration was a joke.

Tisevich, 28, of Fallon, was booked into the Washoe County Jail on three charges, including a felony charge of dispersing a hoax substance. He’s being held on $60,000 cash only bail.

The man Tisevich arrived at the meeting with, Joseph Benedickt, 24, of Reno, also was booked into the jail on the felony dispersing a hoax substance.

The commission chambers were evacuated for nearly four hours as hazardous materials crews tested the substance in the Roundup bottle. It was found to be benign sugar water consistent with Jell-O.

The incident left council and commission members shaken. They sat facing him just a few feet away, not sure what he was going to pull out when he reached into his sweatshirt.

“We want to be open and have an open door policy, but we have to balance that with the safety of everybody in the room,” Councilwoman Neoma Jardon said. “Today is an example of why that’s hard.”

Rowley, who said her group Bee Habitat is not associated with Tisevich, said she’s worried his antics may have set back their cause. She also was shaken by the incident.

She said in the past couple weeks he had escalated his involvement, sending text messages and Facebook messages up to five or 10 times a day.

“If he really had pesticides there, he really could have hurt himself or someone with asthma in the audience,” Rowley said. “We didn’t encourage him to do this and we did our best to talk him out of it.”

Reno City Manager Andrew Clinger said he and County Manager John Slaughter will be working on a new security protocol for joint meetings. An armed police officer routinely attends Reno City Council meetings, and an armed deputy is usually present at commission meetings.

Passionate public comments are routine at public meetings, including by people who become angry about their situation and others who suffer from mental illness and talk for three minutes about apparent hallucinations.

Soto said police give public commenters wide leeway to express themselves. But only to a point.

“There’s a difference between going up and speaking on the record and going up and disturbing what is supposed to be a productive meeting,” Soto said. “Once that disturbance occurs we will ask them to leave or even escort them. We’ve seen that happen several times in years past.”