When hostage won't come out, Roy SWAT team turns to texts

Drug dispute » “Hostage taker” surrendered, but alleged victim barricaded himself.

By Bob Mims

| The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published Nov 28 2012 08:45 am • Last Updated Nov 28 2012 10:19 am

For the Roy Police Department SWAT team, it was one weird standoff.

First, it was a cell phone text, sent to police dispatchers, that brought officers rushing to the scene of a reported hostage situation at the home near 5300 South and 3400 West about 4:45 p.m. Tuesday.

The story gets better, even as the situation got worse. When officers arrived, the alleged hostage taker, a 31-year-old man, walked outside and surrendered without incident. It was the purported victim, a 36-year-old man, who barricaded himself inside, and soon SWAT officers were called to the scene to cordon off the neighborhood.

"It turned out he had arrest warrants out for him and he just didn’t want to go to jail," said police spokeswoman Anna Bond.

Two other male residents of the house were outside, watching the drama, when it turned out they were in cell phone contact with the man inside. Police used that phone to negotiate — by texting — and the man surrendered peacefully about an hour later.

Bond said investigation into the incident continued Wednesday, but it appeared a dispute over drugs had escalated to the point where a firearm was brandished and the "hostage" situation ensued.

The 31-year-old man was booked into the Weber County jail, where he remained Wednesday in lieu of $3,229 bail. He was booked on suspicion of two class B misdemeanor counts of unlawful detention and one class A misdemeanor count of using a weapon during a fight.

The alleged hostage also went to jail on his three outstanding failure to appear, drug-related offense warrants, two for felonies, one for a misdemeanor. Bond was not immediately set for him, jail records showed.

remims@sltrib.com

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

About Reader Comments

---

Reader comments on sltrib.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Salt Lake Tribune. We will delete comments containing obscenities, personal attacks and inappropriate or offensive remarks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. If you see an objectionable comment, please alert us by clicking the arrow on the upper right side of the comment and selecting "Flag comment as inappropriate". If you've recently registered with Disqus or aren't seeing your comments immediately, you may need to verify your email address. To do so, visit disqus.com/account.
See more about comments here.