SAN DIEGO — San Diego police were able to take a domestic violence suspect into custody after an hours-long standoff Wednesday night. The man originally he fled through several backyards in the early morning hours and climbed onto a rooftop in City Heights, where he remained for almost 19 hours.
Police said the man was safely taken into custody around 9:20 p.m.
Dispatchers received a call around 2 a.m. Wednesday from a woman who reported that the father of her child had broken into her home in the 4100 block of Wilson Avenue, east of 35th Street, and got into an altercation with her, San Diego Police Officer Scott Lockwood said.
Officers responded to the scene along with a police helicopter, which helped spot the man fleeing through several backyards in the area by hopping over fences, Lockwood said.
A short time later, the man got a ladder and climbed onto the roof of a home on 35th Street, the officer said.
Officers surrounded the home, but when police placed a ladder for the man to come down, he grabbed the ladder and pulled it onto the roof with him. The man then used the ladder to help him cross onto the roof of a two-story apartment building in the 4000 block of 35th Street.
The man also refused to make use of a ladder that the crew of a San Diego Fire-Rescue Department extended from one of their emergency vehicles to his rooftop perch.
During the stalemate, the suspect hurled some roof tiles off the building, causing no injuries, Officer Dino Delimitros said.
The man surrendered at 9:20 p.m. and was taken into custody without incident, SDPD Officer John Buttle said.
