GP Police Jailed Man for Drug-Fueled Rampage with Pipe in Redwood Area
Grants Pass Police jailed a man for going on a drug-fueled rampage while wielding a large metal pipe in a Redwood area neighborhood yesterday.
The Police Department reports officers arrested 44-year-old Ely Benjamin Smith at the Redwood Center on Redwood Avenue on Thursday at 3:05 p.m..
Police said officers responded to a report of a disorderly male subject armed with a metal pipe on Annabelle Lane. They contacted a highly-intoxicated Smith, who refused to drop the three-foot metal fence post and claimed he was "God." Several de-escalation tactics were used -- but the suspect still refused to drop the pipe, and he threatened officers with the weapon and his alarming behavior.
Smith fled from police through private property and he was recontacted at the Redwood Center where he continued to flee until he was subdued by deployment of a Taser.
After being cleared by doctors at Three Rivers Medical Center, Ely Smith was booked into the Josephine County Jail for Felony Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Menacing, Resisting Arrest, Escape and Disorderly Conduct. He was still in custody this morning without any scheduled bail.
Posted on 1/19/24 11:44AM by Sam Marsh
