Aug. 17--MANCHESTER -- Prongs from a stun gun ended a two-hour police standoff Thursday with a 42-year-old despondent man, who periodically hung by mid-thigh out his 11th-story apartment window at the Carpenter Center high-rise on Franklin Street.
Michael Guyette, who also was seen in the window holding a knife to his chest, was taken to Elliot Hospital for treatment of minor injuries, sustained when he fell after being zapped with the Taser, said Sgt. Mark Sanclemente. Police had EMTs on standby when they broke down the door to his apartment after becoming concerned for his well-being when he stopped talking to negotiators.
Guyette will undergo a mental health evaluation, Sanclemente said. He faces no charges. Police just want Guyette to get the care he needs, he said.
"We are all doing a lot to try to help him," Guyette's sister, Heidi Gagnon, said. "At least he is safe. No one else was hurt. And maybe he can get the real treatment he needs."
Gagnon said her brother was a successful businessman in Honolulu when he suffered two disabling strokes seven years ago. He suffers from major depression, is unable to work, and likely has had other strokes since, she said.
"It's been a long struggle," Gagnon said.
"He is a good man. He is a really good man. He has been through a lot...of stuff," said Gagnon, who works in the accounting department at the New Hampshire Union Leader.
The incident began about 10:15 a.m. when Guyette was seen hanging out the window and threatening to jump.
Sanclemente said the threat concerned officers because the windows in the apartment building are large and low to the floor. At times, he said, Guyette was hanging by mid-thigh, close to his knees, out the window.
No one else was in the room with him, Sanclemente said, and police believe the only weapon he had was a knife that he periodically held to his chest.
Several times, an officer was seen in a window next door to Guyette's maneuvering a pole -- one fitted with a camera, another with a mirror -- in an attempt to get a look inside the apartment. Guyette waved at the camera on one occasion and put a mattress up against the window to block police from looking inside. He later removed it.
Initially, police had Guyette's mother talk to him through the door, because Guyette had no telephone, to try to get him to come out. When that failed, Sanclemente said they called in negotiators and SWAT team members.
The area near West Merrimack and Franklin streets was closed to traffic.
They established a "good dialogue" with him, but Guyette refused to come out and he barricaded his door with a pole. After about two hours, Guyette stopped talking to the negotiators. Police, concerned he might harm himself or already had, broke down the door to his room and "the Taser was utilized to subdue him," Sanclemente said.
Initially, there were about a dozen onlookers but that doubled as the incident continued. The building was not evacuated, but no one was allowed inside, not even the people delivering Meals On Wheels to the many seniors who live there.
A similar incident occurred about two weeks ago when Guyette sat on the windowsill, his feet dangling beneath him, police and residents said.
"Why wasn't there any follow through at that time?" his sister asked.
"I think if they (police) had handled that situation two weeks ago, maybe it wouldn't have escalated to this point today," Gagnon added.
The Carpenter Center has served as a housing complex for the elderly since 1977, according to articles in the New Hampshire Union Leader. It once served as a hotel and is financed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is the site where the city's Meals on Wheels program prepares meals each day, to be delivered to the elderly at their homes around the area.
New Hampshire Union Leader staff reporter Kathryn Marchocki contributed to this report. Pat Grossmith may be reached at [email protected].
Copyright 2012 - The New Hampshire Union Leader, Manchester
