BRISTOL, Tenn. – Police officers arrested and charged a man with assaulting
his girlfriend, after a four-hour standoff early Saturday that culminated
with the use of tear gas.
With several inches of snow blanketing the region, officers responded at 3
a.m. to an apartment on Tulip Grove Road after receiving a report that a
man had choked and threatened his girlfriend with a gun.
The first officers to arrive were able to extract the woman from harm’s
way, said Lt. Greg Leake of the Bristol Tennessee Police Department. David
Shaffer, 45, was charged with aggravated assault, police said.
The department’s hostage negotiation and SWAT teams lobbed a “throw phone”
– a phone designed to withstand high impact that provides a direct line to
negotiators – into the apartment, but were unsuccessful at making contact
with Shaffer.
Four hours later, officers evacuated the adjacent apartments and deployed
tear gas into Shaffer’s residence. He responded within 15 minutes, Leake
said.
Shaffer gave himself up without further incident. He was taken to the
Sullivan County Jail.
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