ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 29, 1997 TAG: 9703310055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI THE ROANOKE TIMES
In a potentially volatile standoff situation, a police negotiator talked a
Ernie Henderson had kept police at bay for 40 minutes Thursday night before Sgt. Tammy Carmichael believed the situation had reached a turning point.
Henderson, 27, had said he would leave his Southwest Roanoke house only on a stretcher. Now, he decided to open his back door. He stood in the doorway and listened as Carmichael tried to coax him outside.
Dressed in plain clothes and unarmed, she approached the back porch.
"I was telling him that I'm here to help and if he comes out and talks to me, we can resolve this," she recalled Friday.
As the lead negotiator, Carmichael had two things on her mind: to ensure the safety of the 20-some officers at the scene and to end the standoff peacefully.
As she talked, the police tactical team took position, directing Henderson to show his hands and get down on the ground. The special unit is trained to disarm potentially volatile confrontations. But when Henderson heard the commands, he slammed the door shut.
Communication stopped. In one second the entire mood of the confrontation shifted.
"My first thought was I had lost him," Carmichael said. "Then I called dispatch and said we got to get communication. We got to get him back on the phone and get him to come out."
In the high-pressure world of crisis negotiation, silence can be deadly. But in Roanoke, officers have built a solid track record of defusing volatile situations safely. Teamwork is the key, Carmichael said.
"If everyone had not been there, it would not have been successful," said Carmichael, a Henry County native who got into police work because she likes talking with people.
Four officers specialize in crisis negotiation, including Carmichael, who's been doing it for four years. It requires composure, keen interviewing techniques and the ability to assess a person's state of mind. But all officers have the training to defuse critical situations, according to Maj. J.L. Viar.
In June, patrol officers safely arrested a 15-year-old boy wielding a butcher knife at a Southeast Roanoke gas station.
Sgt. M.C. Brown, who is not a designated negotiator, spent an hour talking with the boy, who waved the knife at police and himself. Brown subdued the teen-ager after dousing him with pepper spray and wrestling him to the ground.
Calls like these are some of the most dangerous situations for police, because they can change in the flash of a second, according to experts. In 1995, nearly 500 officers in Virginia were assaulted while responding to domestic or man-with-a-gun calls, according to state police figures.
Thursday night's call began similarly, after an officer in an alley behind Henderson's Elm Avenue Southwest home heard what he thought was a gunshot and breaking glass. Moments later, about 6:55 p.m., Henderson called 911. Police won't say why, citing Henderson's privacy.
In the background, the dispatcher heard what she thought was the click of a gun. Carmichael monitored the call from the Police Department and asked the dispatcher to put her in contact with Henderson.
"He told me that he thought we were going to kill him," Carmichael said. "I said no, we were here to help. We talked a few more minutes and then he hung up."
Police still did not know whether Henderson had a gun. A dispatcher called him back, and Carmichael got on the line.
Henderson agreed to meet Carmichael in person. She arrived at 514 Elm Ave. shortly before 8 p.m. After the first attempt to talk with him in person failed, she waited. Two minutes passed before a dispatcher successfully called him.
He stood at his back door again, this time asking for a cigarette.
"I said, 'I'm not responsible if you shut that door; don't shut that door; I have a cigarette,''' Carmichael said.
She reached into her pocket, pulled out a Marlboro and lit it. Another officer stood next to Carmichael for her protection, since she was not armed. Henderson walked toward her, surrendering at 8:04 p.m.
He had no weapon.
Carmichael handcuffed him and allowed him to drag on the cigarette.
Henderson was taken to the magistrate's office downtown and arrested on a charge of unauthorized use of a car. The warrant was unrelated to the standoff. Carmichael accompanied him, a promise she had made to him during their conversation. "If you make promises, you do everything you can to keep them," she said.
Henderson remains in Roanoke City Jail, being held without bond, according to a sheriff's deputy.
"It was a success, and that's what we strive for," said Carmichael, a nine-year Roanoke police veteran and one of the three highest-ranking women in the department. "You have to believe every situation is going to be successful. You can't think of failure, because that'll put a doubt in your mind."
LENGTH: Medium: 94 linesby CNB