PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — A Providence man was brought to the hospital following a standoff with officers at his apartment Wednesday evening.
Major Roger Aspinall told 12 News officers went to the man’s Douglas Avenue apartment upon receiving a request for a wellbeing check from a mental health clinician.
“There were some threats that were made, so the officers thought the best thing to do was to pull back,” Aspinall explained.
Aspinall said the man’s fiancée had barricaded herself in a bedroom and did not have a way to escape the third-floor apartment.
“She felt like she wasn’t able to leave,” Aspinall said. “She was clearly scared.”
Aspinall said negotiators kept an open dialogue with the man, who was armed with a knife, for nearly three hours. He eventually threw the knife down the stairs to the officers and accepted their help.
The man was brought to Rhode Island Hospital for evaluation.
“He’s now getting the help that he needs … and that’s the most important thing,” Aspinall said.