A SWAT team recently responded to a typically quiet neighborhood in College Station in order to deal with a domestic disturbance. Police indicate that a 20-year-old man was fighting with a family member, even firing a gun at one point. He was eventually arrested and received charges of evading arrest and assault on a family member. Nobody was injured during the domestic violence incident, but the suspect did cause a police standoff that lasted around an hour.
Officers were called to the home at around 11:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 14. After arriving at the scene, police attempted to communicate with the man, but the efforts ended up having “negative results,” according to a lieutenant’s report. Officers then evacuated nearby homes and established a perimeter.
Over two dozen police officers began stopping traffic within a few blocks of the man’s residence. At the same time, the suspect began to flee through his backyard. Eventually, the man tried to reenter his home, and police were able to take him into custody. The charges he faces are misdemeanors that could lead to a year-long prison sentence. The lieutenant’s report stated that the man could face additional charges, however.
One interesting aspect of the story involves a Texas A&M student that lived in the area and was posting the events on Twitter as they unfolded. He states that he was around 100 yards from the action at any given time and even saw the suspect jump over a fence. The student figured that a man fleeing from a domestic violence situation would not think to check Twitter to see if any local residents had described the location of police on the social media site.
Domestic violence cases can be particularly troubling for the victim because they often involve taking legal action against a family member. However, regardless of how painful it may be, a temporary restraining order or other type of protection might be necessary to curb future abuse.
Source: theeagle.com, “College Station SWAT team arrests domestic violence suspect; Texas A&M student live tweets the incident” Andrea Salazar, Jan. 15, 2014
