SELMA Ñ Illinois Valley Fire Chief Dennis Hoke said he considered pulling out his handgun to deal with an enraged man threatening one of his medics.

The Thursday incident, he said, illustrates both the lack of law enforcement in Josephine County due to budget cuts and increasingly desperate measures some people are resorting to when there are no police around.

“I’m really upset my people are being put in harm’s way more frequently because we have no police protection,” Hoke said. “It’s a matter of time before an emergency worker is going to be seriously hurt or killed because of this.”

The pajama-bottom wearing, shirtless man, allegedly had assaulted a female caregiver at 18026 Redwood Highway, but firefighters didn’t know that when they arrived on scene.

When Hoke and medics arrived at Bennett’s residence, he had been throwing rocks at the house and a car, and multiple windows were broken. The woman, who had called the nearby landlord, was barricaded in the house.

Hoke said the man forced him and his medics to back out of the driveway.

“As soon as we pulled up, (the man) went to the window of the driver and said, ‘If you get out of this ambulance, I will kill you,'” Hoke said. “It just went south from there.

“I had to get my concealed weapon out and contemplate, ‘What am I going to do.’ We should never be put in that position. I didn’t know if he had a gun.

“If we had known an assault was in progress we never would have responded without backup.”

The enraged man, identified by authorities as Justin Lawrence Bennett, 26, then took off on foot, waving his arms and yelling.

He was arrested about 30 minutes later walking north on Redwood Highway by Deputy Joel Heller, Sgt. Ray Webb and a civil deputy, according to Sheriff Gil Gilbertson.

Bennett was lodged in the county jail, charged with second-degree robbery, second-degree assault, criminal mischief and probation violation.

He may not have taken seizure medications, Hoke said.

Because of funding woes now going on three years, the number of patrol deputies has shrunk in five years from 27 to one Ñ Sgt. Webb. Heller is contractually obligated to cover the city of Cave Junction, which pays his salary. The civil deputy normally doesn’t have time for anything other than serving legal paperwork (evictions, summonses, etc.) that is required by law of every county sheriff.

Heller happened to be on his way to Cave Junction when the call for help came in. Had it occurred at night or a weekend, the Oregon State Police would have been forced to respond.

Since the failure of public safety levies in 2012 and 2013, the state troopers have become Josephine County’s de facto sheriff’s deputies.

Last year, the state police had 797 investigations in Josephine County, compared to just 148 in Jackson County, which has roughly two and a half times the population.

In May, for the third year in a row, there is a public safety levy on the ballot. This one is dedicated for jail operations and sets a five-year rate of $1.19 per $1,000 in assessed property value, which would raise an estimated $7.5 million the first year beginning July 1. The fifth and final year, it would raise $8.8 million. Two larger levies failed the past two years.

The tax would cost property owners $238 a year on a property assessed at $200,000.

That levy doesn’t include increased patrols, but the county commissioners have signed a letter committing general fund money for increased patrols if the levy passes.

Thursday’s call brought up another problem Ñ people now have figured out how to get help, in this case by claiming the assault was simply a need for medical aid, Hoke said.

“If there’s a burglary in progress they call it in as a structure fire. Why? The fire department is going to show up with lights and sirens. People are misrepresenting calls, absolutely.”

Reach reporter Jeff Duewel at 541-474-3720 or jduewel@thedailycourier.com