LAPD Standoff with Man Who Made Threats to The White House

Los Angeles:  Westchester man who refused to communicate with police is taken into custody after nine hours.

On Wednesday, August 12, 2009, a man called 9-1-1, threatening to blow up The White House.  After receiving the call, LAPD Communications Division immediately notified the United States Secret Service of the threat. 

Earlier today, August 13th, Secret Service agents were conducting an investigation at the home of the man who allegedly made the threats against The White House.  The suspect being investigated for the threats also had two warrants out for his arrest.  After seeing the individual driving his red Volkswagen Beetle in the neighborhood, the Secret Service requested officers from LAPD’s Pacific Division to conduct a traffic stop and to assist with taking him into custody.

A Pacific Area patrol sergeant was the first to respond and together the sergeant and the Secret Service agents tried to stop the man while he was driving.  At approximately 10:00 a.m., the suspect refused to stop and talk with the officers and continued to drive.  The officers and agents pursued the man and followed him for about 20 minutes to the Federal Building located at 11000 Wilshire Boulevard in West Los Angeles.  The man ended his attempts to run from police after his car was blocked in by responding officers from the Pacific and West Los Angeles Division.

Officers from the Department’s Metropolitan Division relieved the patrol officers and agents at the scene and established communication with the suspect.  Despite repeated attempts by the crisis negation team, the suspect refused to talk with the officers, exit his Volkswagen and surrender peacefully. 

At around 5:30 p.m., the LAPD SWAT team deployed a non-lethal chemical agent in effort to cause the suspect to get out of his car.  After numerous attempts, the chemical agent appeared to have no effect on the suspect.  SWAT officers used a Thomas A. Swift Electric Rifle (TASER) device which incapacitated the suspect allowing officers to take him into custody without incident.

The suspect suffered minor abrasions and was transported to local hospital for observation and medical treatment. 

For more information contact LAPD Media Relations Section at 213-485-3586.   

Comments

[Nick]

Good job all around LAPD.

[Montana]

Another wack job who neighbors know that when he is off his meds acts up. Are we surprised that he blames everyone else for his own inability to take his medicine. Throw this loser in jail.

[John F. Kappler III]

I am the son of a man who was mentally ill -- now deceased, and when on his meds one of the greatest guys you ever met, but when off his meds, at times quite dangerous, even homicidal. Only the family members of such a person can understand the tragic difficulty of loving somebody so difficult at times to love. Also, there is not a family member of this kind of person who doesn't fear the day, despite all their personal efforts to keep these individuals medicated (to the limits of the law), where the mentally relative loses control and crosses paths with peace officers, who are after all, just trying to keep the peace.

Few ordinary civilians can likewise understand the tremendous difficulty of peace officers in their attempts to contend with the mentally ill in dangerous situations. Rational negotiations with the mentally ill are particularly difficult -- because the mentally ill by nature are not rational. Even when peace officers take their time and manage a mentally ill person safely, it is often thankless because the mentally ill person may not even be aware their life was just saved and still sound indignant and rude.

CT-Scans of many schizophrenics actually show that their brains are missing a great deal of brain tissue that ordinary people have. Gaps in a normal human brain are like tiny empty crevices, in some schizophrenics, these physical gaps are like miniature grand canyons.

The LAPD in the recent past in various divisions have occasionally demonstrated behavior which an ordinary civilian could construe as trigger happy. The simple reality, however, is a peace officer's job is always dangerous, with mortal threats possibly around every corner. There isn't always time to quickly determine whether a threatening suspect is a victim of mental illness, or a garden-variety dangerous criminal.

I therefore understand the occasional lapses when dealing with the profoundly mentally ill who are also dangerous. They may be suffering from delusions, but if they possess a deadly weapon, the basis of their intent almost has to take a backseat to protection of life and limb of others.

All that said: In hearing about this fellow, there is no doubt in my mind he suffers from a biochemical problem in the brain. Therefore, I want to personally commend and thank the LAPD from the bottom of my heart for their handling of this situation even as they were forced to move slowly, gradually, and maintain order in a prolonged and no doubt tiresome manner. There were probably more than ample opportunities to construe this situation as the kind of threat that might have required deadly force, but the LAPD took their time assessing this situation and dealing with it in a slow and calculated increase of force rather than immediately resorting to deadly force. I have no doubt there were reasonable fears this man was dangerous and that there were temptations to nip this situation in the bud quickly with the likelihood this suspect would die. I want to thank you deeply for not giving into that temptation. I don't if this man has relatives who care about him, but I know many mentally ill individuals do, and to lose family members in these kinds of stand-offs when you have done everything legally in your power to keep your relative on medication is just tragic. Thank you and thank you again. Thank you so much for demonstrating discipline in this scary situation.

I hope the LAPD will continue to use their best efforts in the future to balance the need for deadly force against the context of citizens simply not in their right mind as they did so textbook perfectly here. I know your job is hard, and I very much admire your patience and morally deliberate mindfulness. I cannot thank you enough on behalf of the mentally ill of Los Angeles and their relatives.

I'm sorry to be so long-winded, but I salute all of you for doing your duty at your sophisticated best. Thanks again.

Best regards,

John F. Kappler III, Attorney-at-Law

[Tom MInk]

Thank you John F Kappler for your post. After watching this episode on TV for hours I was confused as to how the LAPD should proceed. Its easy to become agitated to think that an individual could cause so much ruckus and interruption to the daily lives of people in the federal building and those in close proximity traffic. However this person probably was suffering from some kind of brain biochemical problem. How else can one explain his ability to withstand all that tear gas (or whatever it was) and to sit in a small car for many hours. Some of us are not very patient but thankfully the LAPD was. So much criticism is leveled at the LAPD but they deserve some positive press for a job well done.