Knife-wielding Windsor man subdued by deputies with foam bullets

Windsor police Saturday arrested a distraught 25-year-old man who called 911 claiming he had a knife and wanted to “commit suicide by cop,” Sonoma County sheriff’s officials said.

Nolan Murphy, 25, of Windsor was standing in the street on Montez Court in Windsor and holding a knife when deputies arrived shortly after Murphy’s tense 11:43 a.m. call to dispatch, during which he yelled obscenities at the dispatcher, said Sgt. Mike Raasch with the Sheriff’s Office, which staffs the Windsor Police Department.

With a kitchen knife in one hand and a whiskey bottle in the other, Murphy walked toward the deputies, “yelling at the deputies to kill them,” Raasch said.

“Deputies tried to convince Murphy to drop the knife, but he refused,” Raasch said in a ?news statement.

One deputy fired a stun gun at Murphy but missed.

A sheriff’s sergeant fired a 40mm foam projectile at Murphy twice, and the second shot was effective in getting Murphy to drop the knife and the whiskey, according to Raasch.

Deputies handcuffed Murphy and he was taken to a hospital to be evaluated, then booked into the Sonoma County jail about 5:30 p.m. He was held on suspicion of felony resisting arrest and violating his probation stemming from a previous vandalism conviction, and he was also detained on a mental health hold, Raasch said. Prior to his Saturday arrest, Murphy had been released on pretrial probation for a recent arrest on suspicion of robbery, the sergeant said.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 707-521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.