Hamilton negotiator honored for peaceful end to standoff
By Lynda Cohen
A Hamilton Township police detective is being credited with peacefully ending a standoff with a knife-wielding suspect in Galloway Township.
A 20-year-old Colorado man held police at bay outside the Wawa in for three hours May 23, after threatening to harm himself while holding a knife in each hand.
The man at one point put his unoccupied car into drive and allowed it to crash into the convenience store.
Hamilton Township Detective Michael Robison, a trained negotiator, was able to talk to the man and get him to eventually surrender.
“It was definitely a team effort,” Galloway Police Chief Donna Higbee told BreakingAC.
Police on scene were from Galloway, Egg Harbor and Hamilton townships, along with members from the Atlantic County SWAT team and detectives from the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office.
Civilians were cleared from the area, and police were able to contain the man to the parking lot.
One person on the scene said he was heard threatening to harm himself but not others.
The “emotionally disturbed” man was taken to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center for evaluation.
“Hopefully he will get the help he needs moving forward,” Higbee said. “We never take pleasure in seeing someone in such distress.”
He was given summonses for unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.
