Remarkable action on the part of the Beaverton Police. More so because the gun was pointed (deliberately, apparently, by the woman) at the woman, and while the man declared he would not harm her, it certainly is dicey as to whether he would actually hold back and not shoot her to get the gun.

Scary for her, a most remarkable and loving act.

Also, there is the possibility she might have been shot anyway from the reaction to the beanbags physically displacing the man. So he had to have let go of the gun before being hit, it seems to me.

Assuming the police have beanbags at the ready, and assuming the other guy doesn't yet have control over the gun, and assuming that everything else is under control and going according to plan, yes, someone intent on suicide by cop can be subdued by using beanbags.

Now on the other hand, if he's charging at the police with a machete or knife, and only a few feet separate them, that's quite another story.

The police admit that they would have shot him if he had pointed the gun at them. I see no other responsible outcome in that event. The man was not shot because the police correctly assessed that he was not a threat to the woman and not yet a threat to them.

Would the outcome have been different in Portland? I don't know.

Pursuit of the great white whale of a Green Disneyland seems to be all that's important in Portland, hence the flight of the sane to the suburbs and beyond.

Quality of life in OC must have been challenging during the era of the second bridge (1922):

"McCullough initially considered painting the bridge but figured paint would be eaten away by sulfuric fumes from nearby paper mills."

[From an earlier O edition: "Gunite [the 'concrete-like coating'] was used instead of paint, which would be eaten away by the corrosive fumes from nearby paper mills."]

Airborne sulfuric acid must have taken a severe toll on lungs and other human body parts, as well as the paint on one's house.