Let's Knife
I am never beating the Pro-Police allegations.
I hope you’ve read Devin Boone’s fantastic “Goldicops.” The article features yours truly defending the position of “Just Right” about police response during that night at the Society Hotel. It’s also well written and researched but I’m quoted in it so I had trouble focusing on the other parts.
I want to build off of Devin’s reporting to look at a different, more high-profile police action and see if I maintain my position.
The week of April 14th, 2025 was dominated in my small corner of NW Portland by Raul Nava Jr. - the widely-reported Knife Guy of NW 21st Ave. Or, at least, he was this year’s Knife Guy. Like Rose Festival Queen, the title gets passed down periodically. Whatever the nomination process, we should examine it from an equity lens because Knife Guy is always male and typically pretty fair-skinned. To quote a client of mine: “Is there a glass ceiling on scaring NW residents with knives?”
Monday, April 14th, 2025
The Coronation of NW Portland’s 2025 Knife Guy1
Around 7:00pm I got the text “Some psycho with weapon,” along with the following picture.
I immediately started texting the Moms.
NW Portland is still a neighborhood where teens run around after school. They do homework at cafes or meet up at friends’ houses and walk home alone. They hang out on NW 21st and NW 23rd to grab ice cream or pizza.2 For all our funny little quirks (like a quasi-annual Knife Guy) this is a pretty wonderful neighborhood. It was even better several years ago and we’re working to get it back to those heights, but I still love this place.
So, like a good neighbor, I fired up the group chat and asked the Moms to figure out where their kids were. They moved into action — not panicked or reactionary, just taking the basic precautions of a parent in an urban setting.
We established facts we had access to:
The police were at NW 21st and Irving, about 20 of them. (Councilor Angelita Morillo would be horrified.)
Knife Guy was in front of Scottie’s Pizza.3
Police had closed off the block and evacuated the area.
According to the PPB Release (emphasis mine):
…Officers spotted him near Northwest 21st Avenue and Northwest Hoyt Street, knowing he had a warrant for felony Identity Theft and another misdemeanor warrant for Resisting Arrest. As officers approached and told him he was under arrest, the suspect sprayed bear mace at the officers and tried to ride away on a bicycle. Officers were able push him off the bike, but he displayed a knife and lunged at the officers. Officers deployed a [Taser] twice, which was briefly effective but he was still able to get up and run.
The man tried to elude police officers on foot toward a restaurant at Northwest 21st Avenue and Northwest Irving Street where diners were sitting outside. Officers evacuated the restaurant, secured the area, and sent a shelter-in-place notice to nearby businesses and residents. Officers trained in enhanced crisis negotiations attempted to de-escalate the man, who had barricaded himself against a door with a table.
This standoff went on for three hours. The police eventually left, without Knife Guy. Here he is, still barricaded in front of Scotties, at around 10pm:
The neighbors were stoked - and by that I mean shocked and furious. A lot of those emotions came the next day, when they turned their phones off ‘do not disturb’ and got the notifications.
Here’s where the communication chain breaks down. It looked like the police just… gave up. “Oh, well,” they seemed to say. “We’ll get him later.”
From the PPB (emphasis mine, again):
After a couple of hours, the Incident Commander made the decision to deescalate the situation by strategically disengaging, as it was determined that the presence of police was escalating the suspect’s behavior. The suspect remained noncompliant if police remained on-scene but agreed to leave his location and retreat if officers left. The decision also took into account that less-lethal options had been used without success, and continuing engagement could lead to a greater use of force.
Given that officers were familiar with him and his usual location, the Incident Commander determined that PPB personnel would develop a plan to arrest him at a future time that would be safer for both him, the officers involved, and the greater public.
Although officers withdrew from direct contact, some continued monitoring the suspect from a distance to ensure he did not pose a threat to public safety.
Local news stories all jive with this account, and I want to call out NW Examiner here. Everything I independently verified seems to match what Allan Classen reported in his May Issue.
The Portland Mercury is a different story. I have made no secret of my dislike for Editor Wm. Steven Humphrey and his staff of… two people? They somehow managed to find every strange character who wanted the police to just go away and leave Nava Jr. to his business — living in a tent full of knives while having a mental crisis and attacking police officers.
I looked up the witnesses who were most critical of the police response. I’m not interesting in identifying them, but if you’re imagining young, white, and well-educated, you get a prize. Honestly, whatever other stereotypes you have in mind, you’re probably correct. We know exactly who the ACAB people tend to be, and how incredibly isolated they are from the repercussions of their politics.
The best video we have of the pursuit is shown here (timestamped to 0:52). This doesn’t really sync up with what one witness described:
“I kept yelling at the police, ‘Please don’t shoot him, please don’t shoot him. He’s harmless. He’s harmless. I think he felt safe with us, so he ran toward us.”
Are they joking? He ran shirtless, screaming, bleeding, and armed into a crowd of diners who fled before him. They evacuated the restaurant and closed early.
Tuesday, April 14th, 2025
A day of waiting and speculation.
The next day, someone hung a Community Safety poster around the neighborhood. This person will serve as our “Not Enough” argument on the police response.
Excerpt:
I don't know about you - but I find this deeply troubling. We had a violent, armed individual with an arrest warrant, who had just assaulted officers, and he was not detained. Instead, he was left roaming near our homes and businesses. How is that acceptable?
This isn’t just about policing - it's about community safety. We should not feel unsafe because people who pose a danger are left to roam freely in our neighborhood.
Many NW residents assumed Knife Guy/Raul had been arrested on Monday night. That would seem to make sense, but Raul was still living in his tent near NW 21st, armed with a collection of knives and bear mace, refusing to be arrested. Locals gave him money and bought him food. I had flashbacks to the Red House fiasco.
Wednesday Night, April 16th, 2025
The End of His Reign - Raul is arrested by PPB at NW 21st and Hoyt.4
At 3:00pm - Parents of Metropolitan Learning Center (MLC) students got this text:
“Hello MLC families. I wanted to let you know that dismissal will be conducted a bit differently today. Due to planned police activity near campus, a secure-the-perimeter has been activated and we will dismiss on Glisan Street. (Hoyt will most likely be closed.) If you pick up your students, please do so from Glisan Street. If your student rides the bus, they will still be able to do so. Out of an abundance of caution, additional members from PPS Security are onsite to help keep everyone safe and coordinated. Thank you. Principal Kitchens.”
The group chat popped off.
“WTF?”
“He’s back?”
“He never left. He’s just been living in a tent.”
“OMFG”
These women were an understandable mix of compassionate and fed up. Raul needed mental health services and to be taken away from the public. The fact that he was allowed to continue living on the street, armed, this close to a school was not received warmly. We didn’t know at the time how closely he was being monitored by PPB.
There was talk of holding a rally to demand explanations. My contact with the PPB passed on a request to “wait for the press conference, all will be explained.” Here’s KGW’s video of it. The school in the background is MLC.
And… the police did a decent job. That’s exactly the sort of messaging I’d like to see. This answer stood out:
KGW: “Should Portlanders expect this kind of response for all arrests associated with folks in the houseless community who may be experiencing mental health crisis?
Chief Day: “No. This is definitely a unique approach. We had a significant amount of information to go off of. Not only the events of Monday night, but the last couple of days. We know that he had a warrant for resist arrest for prior involvement with law enforcement. I do think this is an opportunity for us to continue to strive toward the Mayor’s plan of ending unsheltered homelessness, that we have a crisis on our streets, and I am very supportive of his initiative to try and change that dynamic.”
The parents I spoke to were satisfied enough by the answers. They are realistic people and they know the pickle we’re in as a city. We have a county that doesn’t want to jail people, an inadequate mental health system, and a lack of clear and urgent movement on unsheltered homelessness over the last several years. There isn’t a reality in which Raul should be living in a tent near a school. He should not be armed. He should have been arrested on his outstanding warrants long before any of this took place.
Officers were dealing with a mentally ill man, who was convinced he would be murdered by police and seemingly trying to bring about that outcome.
He is still alive today and in custody. That’s a win in my book.
Verdict
Allan Classen over at the NW Examiner followed the story closely, and you can read his reporting here:
Allan did a great job breaking down some of the more dramatic witness statements. It does not appear that the police were menacing this man. He had an active felony warrant, he was refusing to be arrested, and he assaulted police officers — putting bystanders in harm’s way in the process.
I have the minimum level of compassion for Raul Nava Jr. I’m glad he's alive, but I’m more sympathetic to the parents who argued “they should have braved it and taken him on that first night.”
So, let’s talk about what “braving it” could have looked like. From the police statement (again):
“The decision also took into account that less-lethal options had been used without success, and continuing engagement could lead to a greater use of force.”
and
Given that officers were familiar with him and his usual location…
Greater use of force on an armed man who is threatening the safety of police officers almost certainly means lethal force. I spoke to a few people who would have been okay with that. Some Portlanders view the PPB as toothless; without a mandate to actually enforce the law. If all someone has to do is resist hard enough and they get to walk away, how do we stop violent criminals?
I will say, this is the kinder, cuddlier police bureau that Portlanders demanded. They are much less forceful, and they are willing to spend a lot of time (and money) deescalating or finding a creative way to arrest someone with minimal use of force.
Here are the recent examples of hostage or standoff situations involving weapons:
In May of 2024 a 45-year-old man took his own family hostage with a knife. Deadly force was used.
In August of 2024 a 44-year-old man took over Ground Kontrol with a hatchet and a machete. Arrested. No deadly force.
In December of 2024, a 23-year-old man barricaded himself in his car with his firearm after engaging in gunfire. Arrested. No deadly force.
In January of 2025, a 33-year-old man took over a Trimet bus with a firearm. Arrested. No deadly force.
In those examples the only use of deadly force was in the case of civilians (including young children) being in immediate danger. I view that list as a series of successes. The deadly force example being the most horrible. I feel for every single person involved in the incident. That list doesn’t look like an out of control police bureau or a toothless waste of money.
I didn’t love that it seemed like Raul was left to wander our neighborhood until he calmed down. I was glad to learn that, in reality, he wasn’t. I also want to remind you of the “Too Much” crowd in this story; the crowd who cannot imagine what Raul did to deserve such treatment.
This poster also went up around the neighborhood:
What happened to Raul? (also known as Google)
On April 16th 2025, Raul was arrested near NW 21ST & Hoyt after a massive police response involving SWAT, tear gas, and a K9 unit.
But here's what's not being said:
Google was unhoused, living in a tent in the neighborhood.
He is incredibly kind and giving, and told stories with sharp wit.
He was repeatedly surveilled and harassed by police in the days leading up to his arrest.
He carried trauma from prior police violence.
This constant targeting escalated his mental health crisis.
Instead of trauma-informed care, he was met with militarized force.
Raul is more than a headline. He is human. He has a name. He deserves safety.
Compassion is not a crime.
We must ask:
Why does our city respond to trauma with violence? Why are armored vehicles and tear gas prioritized over housing, care, and dignity?
Crisis is not a crime. Being unhoused is not a crime. We demand better.
Compassion isn’t a crime. Felony Identity Theft, Assault on a Public Safety Officer, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Unlawful Use of Mace in the First Degree, Escape in the Third Degree, Menacing, and Disorderly Conduct in the Second Degree all seem to be.
Nothing in this poster is particularly true. That’s who we are dealing with on the other side of these arguments - a group who just say things they feel instead of what they know, or what actually happened.
I’ll quote myself from the Palestine in the Classroom piece:
We need to say true things as often as possible. In order to prove they are true, we have to back those things up with evidence. It will make people mad, but you have to do it because the alternative is to let the cruelest, dumbest people you’ve ever met have a slap-fight over [every important issue.]
Here’s the truth: We knew he lived in a tent. He was “harassed and surveilled” by officers trying to arrest him for crimes he has allegedly committed. He refused arrest, citing “his sovereign authority and the limits of the American government.”5
I got that quote from the NW Examiner’s article on the Mission Commander, Jason Jones. Two other things of note from that piece:
“What was interesting about this particular case is, the calmer he got, the more resolute he was that you're gonna have to shoot me,” Jones said. “That stupefied the negotiator. He had never seen that before”
Reasons for limiting force have to do with a federal agreement pertaining to mental health situations, body cameras that record every police intervention and fear of provoking anti-police demonstrations, he said.
Police not doing their jobs because they are afraid to provoke a protest is nonsense, but that isn’t what happened here. What happened was police doing a torturously slow, very expensive version of their job for many reasons including protecting the sanctity of human life. Were they also trying to avoid provoking a protest, and maybe going even softer than necessary to do so?
Yeah, probably.
With the budget fight (which is about to become the singular focus of this Substack for the next week or so) and the recent Trump executive order causing a stir, I would guess a lot of conversations about policing in Portland are coming up.
I’m still satisfied with the Portland Police Bureau’s recent actions, and I’m hopeful for the direction the PPB is moving. I think more can be done, and I’m looking forward to saying things that are true as loudly and publicly as I can.
I’ll stick with my “Just Right” position for now.
NW Portland has the best pizza and it’s embarrassing how many options we have.
I’m not going to use cuddly terms to describe this guy. He sucks and he put other people’s lives in danger.
“UPDATE: Wanted Suspect from Northwest District Identified” - PPB Official Release
“Suspect accused in two Portland standoffs identified after arrest Wednesday, police say” - KOIN
“Police arrest man officers confronted Monday night in downtown Portland” - FOX12
“Update: Using K9, Tear Gas, and Robots, Police Arrest Man Involved in Previous Standoff” - Portland Mercury
Red House vibes again.
Sorry, Max, I live in NW, too, and I was horrified that the police walked away and left this guy, armed and crazy, on the street. IMHO, the first thing Portland should do is ask DOJ to agree to terminate the consent decree governing the police. I am confident the Administration would listed sympathetically to such a request. Then we can talk about building some insane asylums to involuntarily house the severely mentally ill who can’t or won’t take care of themselves.