Man Arrested without Incident Following Hours-Long Stand-Off in Damascus

A 59-year-old man was arrested early Monday morning following an hours-long standoff in Damascus, according to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies responded to a house on Southeast Old Barn Lane at approximately 4 p.m. Sunday, where they attempted to arrest the man, later identified as John Charles Redenbo, on a felony warrant.

The sheriff’s office said deputies saw Redenbo at the home before he barricaded himself inside.

Two people came out of the house at about 6 p.m., one of whom the sheriff’s office identified as Sade Cleora Geraldine Hollis, 29, of Damascus.

Hollis had an outstanding warrant for failing to appear on an identity theft charge in Washington County.

Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team members and crisis negotiators responded to the scene after attempts to contact Redenbo were unsuccessful.

After working through the night, SWAT team members were able to take Redenbo into custody without further incident at about 3:30 a.m. Monday. No one was injured in what the sheriff’s office described as a successful mission.

Redenbo was booked at the Clackamas County Jail on a parole violation stemming from a second-degree assault charge. No bail has been set.

The investigation is ongoing, and possible weapons charges may be filed against Redenbo, according to the sheriff’s office.

Redenbo is a former officer with the Milwaukie Police Department, one of two who heroically intervened in preventing a 21-year-old man’s suicide attempt in 2013.

The man had reportedly left a suicide note and some belongings near the Springwater Corridor pedestrian bridge over McLoughlin Boulevard, before climbing an eight-foot security fence and sitting atop the security railing, where Officer Redenbo and a colleague found him, staring down at traffic some 40 feet below.

When it appeared inevitable that the man was going to jump, the officers said they climbed the wire fence themselves and grabbed the man by his wrists and the waistband of his pants.

He resisted, but they were able to yank him backward onto the bridge, where he was handcuffed and taken into protective custody.

Scene of the attempted bridge jump on McLoughlin Boulevard in 2013. Courtesy Milwaukie Police.

The efforts of the two officers prompted the Milwaukie PD to bestow upon them the Police Meritorious Service Medal in September 2013 for their “quick thinking, decisive action, bravery, and overall outstanding performance” in “preventing the young man from hurting himself and possibly causing injury to an unsuspecting motorist.”

Officials confirmed Thursday that Redenbo had served with the Milwaukie Police Department from January 2003 to January 2016, but declined to say if he was terminated or share any other information regarding his departure from the force.

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