By Kate Mather, The Oregonian, Saturday, January 28, 2012

Police officers and crisis negotiators managed to rescue a man threatening to jump from a second-story ledge at a downtown apartment building late Friday.

Several members of the Portland Police Bureau‘s Special Emergency Reaction Team and paramedics also responded to the Henry Building Apartments, 309 S.W. Fourth Ave., said Sgt. Pete Simpson, a police spokesman.

Simpson said the 30-year-old man, who lives in the building, had a history of mental illness. A neighbor called 9-1-1 after seeing him on the ledge.

Negotiators spoke with the man for more than two hours. They persuaded him to step back into his room just before 11 p.m., Simpson said.

Once he was in the room, SERT officers entered and took him into custody.

The man was transported to an area hospital for a mental health evaluation.

Some streets in the area were blocked off during the incident, but all have reopened, Simpson said.