HERMISTON — Hermiston Police Chief Jason Edmiston reported officers early Tuesday, Dec. 7, used less-lethal rounds to subdue and arrest a man who refused to drop knives and threatened to kill the officers.

Police at about midnight responded to a residence in the 1000 block of West Hermiston Avenue on a report of a man, Matthew Earns, 30, armed with a gun. Four Hermiston officers — one was still in field training — responded, Edmiston said.

Officers found Earns in the parking lot, but instead of a gun, according to Edmiston, Earns pulled out two large hunting knives.

“Earns kept officers at bay with the knives for approximately one hour,” he said. “During that time, Earns threatened to kill each officer more than once. Earns was highly intoxicated and still drinking during the encounter. At one point, Earns stabbed a knife into the Tonneau cover of a department pickup.”

Edmiston also said police repeatedly told Earns, who jail records show is 6 feet tall and weighs 230 pounds, to drop the knives, but he would not. And as he was advancing on police, one officer shot Earns with a 40 mm less-lethal round.

Even then, Edmiston said, Earns did not drop the knives, so police shot him a second time.

The police chief explained given Earns’ state, the 40 mm rounds — which are about 1.6 inches in diameter, have a plastic body and a sponge nose — were the best options. The weapon is accurate, he said, while a Taser stun gun needs both prongs to hit a person to be effective. Edmiston said if one of the prongs missed Earns, the situation could have been much worse.

Police took Earns to the emergency department at Good Shepherd Medical Center, Hermiston, for X-rays, Edmiston said, and once medical staff cleared him, it was off to the Umatilla County Jail, Pendleton.

After taking Earns into custody, police questioned his girlfriend and her elderly mother. Edmiston reported officers found Earns strangled his girlfriend and threw her on the floor and forced her mother into a bedroom and threatened to kill her if she came out.

During an arraignment the morning of Dec. 7, the Umatilla County District Attorney’s Office brought initial charges against Earns of felony strangulation, three counts of unlawful use of a weapon, two counts of menacing, one count of second-degree criminal mischief and two counts of harassment. The court set his bail at $150,000.