It was a beautiful spring Saturday. Gail Gorbett Wilson said she was home alone and had just finished a bowl of soup, when a naked man came to call. Needless to say, Steven Shane Burton, 30, of Hermiston, was not an expected guest. Wilson had never seen him before in her life.
“He opened up his arms and said, ‘Hi, honey,’ ” she said. “He came directly towards me with his arms wide open and proceeded to give me a hug. I waited until he got close enough so I could shove him away.”
The former corrections officer said that Burton was obviously high, and kept muttering unintelligibly. Physically limited, Wilson was in her lift chair at the time, and the unwanted visitor chose to sit on her motorized scooter.
“My dad’s voice was in my head, telling me, ‘Keep calm. Remember your training,’ ” she said. “The correctional officer training kind of kicked in and I just spoke to him as if I was on a unit with the inmates and he responded. I didn’t make conversation with him, didn’t make eye contact. I just kept him in my peripheral.”
Wilson said she doesn’t think the man even noticed that she had dialed 911. He locked her dog, Hunter, in an office and roamed around the home. He tried to hug her again, and again she shoved him away. He sat back down. Then things changed.
“Dispatch asked me to ask him his name, which I knew was not something I should be doing,” she said.
She followed the instruction, though, and asked.
“He started getting agitated and, pretty quick, he jumps up and out the door he went,” she said.
She watched him as he went into the yard. That’s when she says Burton heard police sirens and took off running. He scaled a cyclone fence, and then fell down a cliff above the Umatilla River. Pendleton Police Chief Stuart Roberts says Burton didn’t hit the bottom, though.
“Burton was hanging upside down from a tree by his ankle,” Roberts said. “During this time he was aggressive, non-cooperative. At one point, he even tried to pull the handgun from one of the assistant deputy’s holster.”
Because of the man’s precarious position, it took over three hours for officers and emergency respondents to get Burton out of the tree and back up the cliff.
“He opened up his arms and said, ‘Hi, honey,’ ” she said. “He came directly towards me with his arms wide open and proceeded to give me a hug. I waited until he got close enough so I could shove him away.”
The former corrections officer said that Burton was obviously high, and kept muttering unintelligibly. Physically limited, Wilson was in her lift chair at the time, and the unwanted visitor chose to sit on her motorized scooter.
“My dad’s voice was in my head, telling me, ‘Keep calm. Remember your training,’ ” she said. “The correctional officer training kind of kicked in and I just spoke to him as if I was on a unit with the inmates and he responded. I didn’t make conversation with him, didn’t make eye contact. I just kept him in my peripheral.”
Wilson said she doesn’t think the man even noticed that she had dialed 911. He locked her dog, Hunter, in an office and roamed around the home. He tried to hug her again, and again she shoved him away. He sat back down. Then things changed.
“Dispatch asked me to ask him his name, which I knew was not something I should be doing,” she said.
She followed the instruction, though, and asked.
“He started getting agitated and, pretty quick, he jumps up and out the door he went,” she said.
She watched him as he went into the yard. That’s when she says Burton heard police sirens and took off running. He scaled a cyclone fence, and then fell down a cliff above the Umatilla River. Pendleton Police Chief Stuart Roberts says Burton didn’t hit the bottom, though.
“Burton was hanging upside down from a tree by his ankle,” Roberts said. “During this time he was aggressive, non-cooperative. At one point, he even tried to pull the handgun from one of the assistant deputy’s holster.”
Because of the man’s precarious position, it took over three hours for officers and emergency respondents to get Burton out of the tree and back up the cliff.