Charles Arthur Freeman April 2011
Police took a 45-year-old man to the hospital after he injured several officers Thursday when they tried to subdue him after a naked chase near Interstate 205 in Southeast Portland.
It was the second scuffle in less than a day that Charles Arthur Freeman had with police, authorities said.
He bit a Gresham police officer on the finger Wednesday night after police responded to a call of a possible drug overdose in the 16400 block of Northeast Glisan Street, said Officer Malaka Kerbs.
Freeman fought with officers as they tried to take him into custody when they found him masturbating in the bushes and he was Tased multiple times before being restrained, she added.
Freeman was suspected of being under the influence of methamphetamine and was cited for assaulting a public safety officer, resisting arrest and public indecency, authorities said.
He was released from custody that night and transported to Portland Adventist Hospital for an evaluation.
Freeman requested to be discharged and left about 9 a.m. Thursday, said hospital spokesman David Russell, and did not appear to be a danger to himself or others.
Portland police said Freeman remained outside the hospital and was seen wearing only a hospital gown or bed sheet. [Hospital gown, according to a press release issued by the Portland Police Bureau.]
LISTEN – Download an MP3 of the 9-1-1 dispatch tape
READ – Naked man accused of injuring officers in SE Portland released from hospital, booked into jail
He then headed toward Southeast 96th Street and wandered into a nearby business.
Charles Arthur Freeman July 2012
Officers found Freeman in the business and attempted to walk him out, but he shed the sheet, fought with officers and fled, police said.
Freeman allegedly tried to carjack a van before officers hit him with Taser shots, but they had little effect and he kept running, police said.
Three officers finally subdued Freeman near Southeast 97th Avenue and Stark Street, but he grabbed the leg of an officer and bit another as they tried to put him into handcuffs, police said.
An officer kneed Freeman in the back repeatedly before he relinquished his grip and could be handcuffed at about 12:30 p.m., police said.
Three officers were injured, police said, including one who was hospitalized for a leg injury sustained during the chase.
The case remains under investigation.
Freeman was in stable condition Thursday night at Portland Adventist Hospital.
READ – Charles Freeman, who was naked when chased by Portland police, pleads not guilty in court, July 9, 2012
Man in police struggle killed brother in 1998
From KGW.com, July 6, 2012
A naked man subdued by police Thursday was convicted of killing his brother in 1998, sentenced to the state mental hospital and later released.
Charles Freeman, 45, was found guilty except for insanity in the murder case. But in 2005, an Oregon Supreme Court decision ruled substance abuse was a “personal disorder” and not a mental disease, leading to his release.
Freeman bit officers while he was being handcuffed in Southeast Portland Thursday afternoon, police said.
Watch: ODOT cam captures naked man arrest
Freeman was the same man who fought with Gresham Police on Wednesday night, they said. He was suspected of being high on methamphetamine and it took multiple officers to subdue him. Officers then took Freeman to Portland Adventist Hospital.
Freeman was released from the hospital Thursday but would not leave the grounds. Police said he was seen urinating in the bushes at the hospital.
“He was dressed in a gown and he had something in his hand and he was all messed up,” said David Pritchard, hospital groundskeeper.
An employee at the nearby America’s Best Eye Glasses store told KGW Freeman then ran into the store, wearing a sheet.
“He was just standing in the store, holding a sheet around his shoulders,” the employee said. Police “came in and asked him to leave.”
Officers then escorted Freeman outside, and he “suddenly dropped the sheet and took off,” the employee added.
Police said a totally naked Freeman then tried to commandeer an occupied van, and officers used a Taser on him but it had little effect.
Three officers caught up to Freeman at the corner of SE 97th Avenue and SE Stark Street near the Interstate 205 on-ramp where they subdued him. He grabbed an officer’s leg and bit others in the course of the struggle, police said.
One of the officers struck Freeman so he would let go of another officer and they handcuffed him. Police said three officers suffered injuries and they are continuing their investigation.
“All force in the Portland Police Bureau is documented extensively,” said Lt. Robert King. “It’ll be reviewed through the chain, every use of force.”
“There is a time when pepper spray doesn’t work and a Taser doesn’t work,” he added. “Those tools designed to be productive can’t overcome the resistance of this person, and that’s what we had today.”