Wednesday, December 31, 2003
|
Wednesday, December 31, 2003 |
|
Christmas standoff ends with 1 arrested By JOHN MUNFORD A standoff between Peachtree City police and a deranged man at a local hotel ended safely Christmas Day, police said. The suspect, Fuchen Wang, 50, of Chattanooga, Tenn., retreated to his hotel room after throwing rocks at the first police officer who responded to the scene, police said. Officers were called to the Days Inn on Ga. Highway 54 West to respond to an intoxicated person damaging a hotel room, police said. As officers determined whether to wait out the situation or force their way in, the hotel was evacuated as a safety precaution, said Police Chief James Murray. One of Wang’s friends unsuccessfully tried to convince him to come out safely, Murray said. Police also learned Wang had recently been fired from the Chin-Chin restaurant because of his delusional behavior, Murray said. Once the officers determined there were no hostages inside, the main concern became whether Wang had any weapons, Murray said. The department’s Special Response Team (SWAT unit) came to the scene and used a special chemical gas to force Wang out, Murray said. Instead, Wang stayed in the room. Officers then used a distracting explosive to disorient Wang as they burst into the room, Murray said. Wang was found underneath a mattress and dragged outside where he struggled briefly before being arrested, Murray said. Instead of booking Wang at the Fayette County Jail, Wang was sent to West Central Regional Hospital for evaluation and treatment, police said. “He was extremely, extremely delusional,” Murray said. “He had no sense of reality.” Wang was charged with felony aggravated assault on a police officer, felony obstruction of a police officer, felony arson and misdemeanor criminal damage to property in the second degree. Police determined Wang had a box cutter and a butcher knife at the time of the incident. The mattress had burn marks on it and “numerous” areas of the room had been slashed, damaged or painted, police said. Since the Special Response Team was used, the team’s actions will be critiqued to make sure the situation was handled properly, Murray said. Murray said he made the call to enter the hotel room, but the decision was difficult because it was unclear if Wang was armed. The fear was that Wang might set a fire causing much damage to the hotel and the wooded area nearby if officers didn’t act quickly enough, Murray said. “You don’t know if this was a case of suicide by police officer,” Murray said, referring to cases across the nation when a suspect forces a police officer to use deadly force in a suicide bid instead of committing suicide on their own. “Everybody did a great job,” Murray said. “It was a happy ending.”
|
||