Nye County Sheriff’s deputies exercised both caution and restraint as they responded to a service call regarding an alleged suicidal man in possession of a large knife.
The incident occurred in the desert area several hundred yards off of the avenues of Fox and Martin just before 4 p.m., Jan. 12, when deputy Cory Fowles responded.
The incident concluded less than an hour later, with a man identified as Michael Rippie in handcuffs and facing an assault with a deadly weapon charge.
A sheriff’s office news release stated Deputy Cory Fowles responded to the scene to assist a U.S. Bureau of Land Management ranger who notified the sheriff’s office of a suspicious man parked in the desert on the south end of town.
“When I arrived, I made contact with the BLM ranger, who was parked behind a Ford dually truck,” Fowles noted in the release. “The ranger told me that Michael Rippie was in the truck and he was threatening suicide. I approached Rippie, who was sitting in the truck with the window down, and asked Rippie to step out of the vehicle.”
Instead of exiting the vehicle, the release reported that Rippie exhibited signs of aggressive behavior toward the deputy and ranger.
“Rippie refused to step out of the vehicle and pulled a knife with an approximate four-inch blade from his pants with his right hand, held the blade in the air, and said ‘shoot me’,” the deputy noted.
When Rippie allegedly brandished the knife, Fowles said he felt Rippie placed both himself and the BLM ranger in “reasonable apprehension of immediate bodily harm.”
After additional units arrived on the scene, Rippie was swiftly removed from the vehicle, arrested, and subsequently transported to the Nye County Detention Center, where he faces one count of assault with a deadly weapon.
Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @pvtimes