Former Arizona prisons chief Charles Ryan is scheduled to be sentenced Friday in Maricopa County Superior Court on charges stemming from an armed standoff with police at his Tempe residence in 2022.
Ryan’s wife told police that her husband drank “half of a large bottle of tequila” that evening before she called them for assistance, fearing he had harmed himself.
Seven homes surrounding Ryan’s residence were evacuated during the January incident. A tactical armored vehicle, SWAT team, negotiators and robot were used by police in the standoff. Officers who responded to the incident said they feared for their lives after Ryan pointed a handgun at them and refused to drop the weapon.
Body camera footage released by Tempe Police contains officers saying, “He’s got a gun” and “He was pointing it at us.” These statements are reflected in police reports from the incident.
Ryan was finally coaxed out of the home and taken to a hospital for treatment of a self-inflicted wound and an injury sustained when Tempe police shot him with a less-lethal bean bag round, police said. He was never jailed.