Man Cut His Wrist Before Removal From Barricaded Motel Room in Point Beach

A 31-year-old man is in custody this morning after barricading himself in a Point Pleasant Beach motel room and threatening to kill himself and possibly others, said Lt. Robert Dikun.

The man cut his wrist and told police he swallowed bags of heroin before police convinced him to get out of the efficiency room at the Pelican Point Motel, 210 Arnold Avenue, and transported him to a hospital late Sunday night, police said.

The man, who was alone in his room, called police at about 8:15 p.m. Sunday and said he had barricaded himself in a room at the Pelican Point Motel, formerly the Colonial Motel, said Sgt. Robert Goessel.

Dikun said, "The man said he wanted to take his life and, if necessary, take other lives. It was recognized as a very dangerous situation from the outset.

"The officers initially on the scene opened a line of communication with the man, who was coming across as violent and emotionally disturbed to himself and to police officers," Dikun said.

"They were able to build a rapport with him and maintained constant communication," Dikun said.

Corporal Peter Andreyev, Patrolman First Class Robert Kowalewski and Officer Kyle Boturla were the first on the scene.

"The officers and crisis negotiators, who were called in, talked him into surrendering," he said. "They did a a masterful job."

The man said on the telephone that he wanted to harm himself and had placed furniture in front of his locked motel room door, Goessel said.

When the man ultimately came out of the room at about 11 p.m., police saw that the man had cut his wrist and was bleeding profusely, Goessel said.

Paramedics treated him at the scene and transported him to Ocean County Medical Center in Brick for medical and psychological evaluations, Goessel said.

Paramedics had said the wrist laceration was not life-threatening, said Dikun.

Dikun said he believed the man was okay on Monday morning and was in custody. He declined to release his name or say if he was still at the hospital, in police headquarters or in the Ocean County jail.

Police requested a SWAT team and the Ocean County mobile command unit to the scene, two blocks from the boardwalk and a block from the municipal parking lot on Arnold Avenue.

Dikun said the man had not only locked the motel room door and moved furniture up against it, but he had nailed furniture, bed frames and even appliances into the wall and door to strengthen the barricade.

By the time local and county negotiators convinced the man to surrender, he couldn't get past his own barricade because so much material had been nailed down, Dikun said.

The man had to crawl through a small window in the entry door, which was a storm door with a window that slid up and down.

After the man left the room,  "the SWAT team breached the windows and doors and cleared the apartment," Dikun said.

The man had been living in the efficiency-style motel room "for a considerable period of time," Dikun said.

Police had originally called for the emergency helicopter, MONOC 1, but cancelled that before it arrived, Goessel said.

It was unclear as to why the man had barricaded himself at the motel or why he had hurt himself.

The man's original call to police was at first designed a first aid call or "a welfare check" because the man was threatening to harm himself, Goessel said.

The initial call went to Monmouth County dispatch, said Goessel, explaining that some 911 cell phone calls in certain sections of the Beach go to Monmouth, since the Beach is so close to the county line. Usually 911 calls in the Beach and elsewhere in Ocean County go to the Ocean County dispatch center in Toms River.

The man may have used a cell to make the call, he said.

Sgt. Joseph Michigan, a K-9 officer; Sgt. William Ippolito, of the Point Beach department and the county regional SWAT team; Officer Michael Fioretti, Point Beach Senior Communications Officer; the Point Pleasant Beach First Aid Squad and Monoc Paramedics assisted at the scene.

No charges have been filed so far.

Log on later to www.pointpleasant.patch.com for updates from police as they become available.