At 8:22 p.m. on Wednesday, officers from the Cowley County Sheriff's
Department and the Kansas Highway Patrol responded to a rural Arkansas City
residence to a call of a man who was threatening harm upon himself at his
parents' residence.
When Sgt. Steve Deill arrived on the scene at 8:32 p.m., the man's parents
told the officer their son was out of control and wanting to hurt himself
and had holed himself up in the bowels of the house.
Cowley County Undersheriff Don Read says situations like these tend to
become more complicated when a police presence is requested.
"When the son found out the police had been called, he barricaded himself in
the basement," Read said.
After a few minutes, Capt. Bill Mueller with the Cowley County Sheriff's
Department and troopers Nick Carter and Bob LeVelle with the Kansas Highway
Patrol arrived at the scene and descended on the basement.
When officers made contact with the subject, a two hour long dialogue with
officers commenced, in which the man kept repeating his plea to harm
himself. The Southern Kansas Multi-Jurisdictional S.W.A.T. team was on
standby at the scene.
As the situation reached the two hour mark, the man began to harm himself
with a knife, and it was in this distraction that officers tased and subdued
him from further harming himself.
The subject was then transported to South Central Kansas Regional Medical
Center in Arkansas City, where he was treated for minor injuries, evaluated
by Cowley County Mental Health and later transported to Osawatomie State
Hospital.
Read says the situation ended well, but officers aren't always so lucky to
have such a calm ending.
"The officers exhibited extreme patience and communication skills and should
be commended for their professionalism in handling the incident," Read said.
"We were fortunate his injuries were minimal and no officers were hurt
either."
Read declined to comment on the subject's name or specific whereabouts of
the incident.
