SPOKANE, Wash. -- For about an hour Tuesday afternoon, police and SWAT teams were at the scene of a standoff on the lower South Hill.
It happened near Hartson and Cook. Police said a man violated a protection order and refused to surrender. Police said these types of cases are all too common for SWAT officers. More than any other police cases, officers say domestic violence incidents are some of the most dangerous they face.
In Tuesday’s case, police said the 54-year-old suspect violated a domestic violence protection order and showed up to the house anyway. Witnesses told police they saw him with a gun.
"You throw a weapon into those two things, love and emotion and it takes it to another level," Spokane Police Officer John O’Brien said.
After about an hour, the man surrendered without a shot fired. Police said this case highlights a growing reality for SWAT crews across the country. Increasingly often, SWAT situations are the result of domestic violence situations.
According to the law enforcement group, International Association of Chiefs of Police, the top two SWAT calls are arrest warrants and barricaded suspects. They are most often connected to domestic violence cases.
"We don't want you to get hurt. Come outside and let's talk through this and find out what did and did not happen," O’Brien said.
As for why SWAT teams show up so often, officials said it is because police often need added protection during domestic violence standoffs. Nationwide, of the 91 police officers killed between 2010 and 2014, a quarter of those deaths happened as a result of a domestic violence call. This makes domestic violence more dangerous than calls involving robbery, burglary, and people with weapons.
The suspect in this case was tackled to the ground. He is facing charges of unlawful Imprisonment and violation of a domestic violence protection order.
