PORTLAND — The woman who spent four hours wedged between the walls of two buildings in downtown Portland will not be charged with a crime, police said Friday.
Sgt. Pete Simpson, a police spokesman, said detectives investigated a lead that 30-year-old Anita Mann was a graffiti artist trying to deface one of the buildings when she fell early Wednesday, but there were no marks on the property and no paint cans at the scene.
Detectives also checked into whether Anita Mann is the woman’s real name. It is.
“The speculation of course was: ‘Anita Mann? Wasn’t that one of Bart Simpson’s names?”‘ he said, referring to the prank-playing animated TV character.
It’s still unknown what the woman was doing on the building at 3:45 a.m. and how she fell into a space 8 inches wide. Firefighters cut a hole through a concrete garage wall and used an air bag and a soapy lubricant to free her.
Simpson said detectives did not interview Mann, and the investigation went no further than making sure her identity was authentic and she was not attempting to deface property. Nobody has come forward to press charges of trespassing, the police spokesman said, adding that what she endured is probably punishment enough.
Mann has not spoken the media. She released a statement to The Oregonian on Thursday in which she did not address how she got into her predicament.
“The events of the morning were awful and ridiculously frightening,” the statement said. “I am extremely thankful for the outcome of the situation I found myself facing. I profusely apologize for the disturbance and damage this has created.”
One of the walls Mann fell between is part of Gretchen Kafoury Commons, a low-income apartment complex.
Shelley Marchesi, spokeswoman for Home Forward, formerly known as the Housing Authority of Portland, said the agency has called four contractors for estimates to repair the wall that had to be cut. Staff members think the cost could run several thousand dollars, she said.
