Behind the Badge
Video courtesy of OnScenevideo.tv
For three hours Monday night, a dozen Anaheim police officers tried to get the armed, suicidal and drugged-up man out of his car
Dramatic video of the incident, which took place in a commercial parking lot in the 1000 block of North Pacific Center Drive, shows how cops used non-lethal force to achieve a peaceful resolution.
The incident began at around 9:40 p.m. when someone called APD to report that an apparently drunk man was sitting in his Smart Car in the parking lot.
A second call then came into APD from a relative of the man who indicated that he was from Los Angeles County, despondent and possibly suicidal, Anaheim Police Lt. Bob Dunn said.
When officers arrived, they found the man “in a medically induced state” from an apparent overdose of prescribed medication, Dunn said.
The man was not trying to be antagonistic to officers but for nearly three hours, he only was intermittently responsive to their commands and not did respond when they ordered him to exit the car, Dunn said.
The 55-year-old man, whose name is being withheld, had a loaded .45 caliber handgun next to him, Dunn said.
To provide ballistic cover in case the man decided to use his weapon, Anaheim officers rolled out to the scene “The Peacekeeper,” a 1963-built vehicle with a Dodge chassis and armored plates.
The armored vehicle was donated to the APD about 20 years ago from the Department of Defense as part of the federal government’s 1033 Program, in which surplus military equipment is donated to local law enforcement agencies.
At about 12:30 a.m., officers fired a non-lethal round to break both windows of the Smart Car and extract the man from his vehicle. He then was transported to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.
“Often those who suffer from mental health conditions can be unpredictable,” Dunn said. “Add to that the fact this individual had access to a loaded .45 caliber handgun, and we’re very thankful this incident ended peacefully.”
