By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Hillsboro police officer Randy Brazil likely had a tense moment or two during a Monday afternoon and evening incident in which a woman apparently threatened to kill both him and another woman.

According to dispatches recorded by the newspaper, Brazil ended up getting help from a Marion officer and two deputies. Hillsboro police chief Jessey Hiebert also went to the calls.

Brazil said the incident started with a request for a welfare check, called in by one of the woman’s friends, who had received text messages from the woman.

“We went over there and made contact with her through the door, and she said she was fine,” Brazil said. “We felt we would just aggravate the situation if we broke down the door.”

A counselor from Prairie View was summoned to talk to her, Brazil said.

That evening, the woman began calling dispatchers.

One thing she said was that her door was open and if the police want to come by, they should do so at their own risk.

The woman then barged into another residence, to which she had earlier been told not to return, Brazil said.

“When I detained her, I told her she needed to be evaluated,” he said. “She was pretty much out of control. She was fighting us and biting us.”

She was taken to Hillsboro Community Hospital, where police provided security.

The hospital got her some food, and Prairie View had a Zoom teleconference with her. After the conference, Prairie View’s recommendation was that she be admitted to a psychiatric facility for further evaluation.

Brazil stayed at the hospital until the woman went to sleep. He then was able to check intermittently instead of having to stay.

As of Tuesday afternoon, which psychiatric hospital she would be sent to had not been determined.

“Jail is not the first choice if she’s in this mental state,” Brazil said.

He did say, however, that charges were pending for some of the evening’s events.