Alaska News

Man restrained with crab pot line during psychotic episode in Halibut Cove

Alaska State Troopers say a 32-year-old Anchor Point man was restrained with crab pot line during what was described as a "drug-induced paranoid-delusional psychotic breakdown" in Halibut Cove early Monday afternoon.

About 1 p.m., multiple people called 911 from Halibut Cove to report the unruly man, who apparently took off in a skiff and either jumped or fell into the water, said Beth Ipsen, troopers spokeswoman.

Onlookers had trouble pulling the man out of the cove because he was acting violently, "yelling and growling," Ipsen said.

A few Halibut Cove residents were eventually able to get the man out of the water, and bound his hands and feet with crab pot line, Ipsen said. When two Alaska State Troopers, one Alaska Wildlife Trooper and a Homer Fire Department medic responded aboard a watercraft, the residents were trying to warm the man with blankets, Ipsen said.

The man, whom troopers did not identify, admitted to ingesting methamphetamines and "possibly bath salts," according to a Tuesday trooper dispatch.

The man's mental state improved as troopers took him to Homer, Ipsen said. He was hypothermic, and later taken in an ambulance to South Peninsula Hospital.

Reach Devin Kelly at dkelly@adn.com or 257-4314.

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By DEVIN KELLY

dkelly@adn.com

Devin Kelly

Devin Kelly was an ADN staff reporter.

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