FARMINGTON – Police spent much of Wednesday afternoon searching woods for a man who threatened to kill a police officer with a knife, Lt. Jack Peck said.

A woman called police from Cascade Leisure Park about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Peck said, saying her adult son Victor Silva, 24, was being verbally abusive and wouldn’t leave the house.

When officer Brian Ross arrived at the house, the woman told police she thought Silva had a knife, and she was afraid he might become violent.

When Ross walked over to pat Silva down and find the knife, Silva wriggled out of his jacket and pulled a knife out of his waistband. Waving it around, he began threatening to kill Ross, Peck said.

When Ross called for backup, Silva ran off into the woods. Farmington police, state troopers, county deputies, and a police dog spent much of the early afternoon walking around the woods near Maple and High streets searching for Silva.

After two to three hours, a phone tip led them to the woods behind Sherwood Apartments, off High Street, where they found Silva.

He was taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital for a mental health evaluation, Peck said, then taken to Spring Harbor psychiatric hospital, where he was to be involuntarily committed.