After separate incidents, two men were arrested on suspicion of menacing in Bend this week, but ended up in different places, according to Bend Police.

Christopher Wagner, 37, a transient, reportedly threatened a Bend Police officer with a large folding knife at about 10:20 a.m. Tuesday in Drake Park, according to Bend Police Lt. Clint Burleigh.

The next morning at about 8 a.m., Michael Fuller, 41, threatened a maintenance man fixing a fire extinguisher outside of his Northeast Bend apartment. He brandished a knife “in the direction of” the worker, who called police, Burleigh wrote in a Thursday news release.

At first blush, the incidents appear similar: two men, both white, waving knives at someone else. But one suspect was taken to St. Charles Bend for an evaluation while the other was taken directly to the Deschutes County jail, begging the question of why these apparently similar incidents were treated so differently.

Wagner was arrested, issued a civil exclusion notice from Drake Park and transported to the Deschutes County Jail, where he was lodged on suspicion of menacing.

Fuller was taken to St. Charles Bend for an evaluation an hour after Bend Police set up a “safe area” around the apartment, evacuating residents and calling in a police negotiator, who talked with Fuller for an hour and coaxed him out of the apartment.

In each case, criminal charges remain a possibility, though none were filed as of Thursday afternoon, according to the Oregon eCourt Case Information system. Wagner is no longer in custody, according to the Deschutes County jail.

Burleigh, the department’s public information officer, said in an interview Thursday that while it was difficult to say exactly what made the two situations different, the men were arrested under different circumstances — and had differing backgrounds.

Although Wagner made statements that “were not making sense,” he also threatened a police officer, had a history with the law and the alleged incident took place in a highly visible public park, Burleigh said.

Court records show Wagner has 12 violations in Deschutes County, including a 2009 felony conviction for third-degree assault and reckless endangering.

According to Burleigh, Tuesday’s Drake Park incident was preceded by four days of escalating threats made by Wagner to officers. Meanwhile, records show Fuller pled guilty to one count of an attempt to commit a misdemeanor in Sept. 2013.

Before he was arrested, Wagner was making threats “within 35 feet” of an officer, Burleigh wrote Thursday in a news release, and didn’t drop the knife when officers asked, but eventually walked away, throwing the knife to the ground. He stopped and was arrested in the parking lot near Mirror Pond.

Since 2010, more officers in Central Oregon have undergone crisis intervention training, which emphasizes de-escalation, active listening and connecting people with health resources. The officer who arrested Wagner was crisis intervention-trained, Burleigh said.

“(The officers) didn’t feel that was mental health-driven,” Burleigh said Thursday of the Drake Park incident, adding, “Does that rule out mental illness? Absolutely not. And it may go down that path depending on how it goes through the court system.”

Deschutes County has a specialty mental health court for defendants with mental health diagnoses, whose criminal charges may be dismissed upon successful completion of a treatment plan. Since its inception in 2002, the majority of its cases have been dismissed, but entry into the program is strict.

— Reporter: 541-383-0376,

cwithycombe@bendbulletin.com