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Timothy Combs (Photo courtesy of Lincoln County Regional Jail / January 8, 2013) |
WAYNESBURG — A man has been charged with a felony count of evading police after a domestic assault case turned into a bizarre standoff situation Monday night.
Timothy Combs, 53, of Waynesburg, has been charged with first-degree fleeing or evading police, third-degree terroristic threatening and fourth-degree domestic violence assault.
After sheriff's deputies responded to a domestic violence call at Combs' home on Parker Road Monday night, they left with the victim of the assault, Combs' wife, state police spokesman Paul Blanton said.
While deputies were on the scene, they "overheard threats against law enforcement," according to a news release.
"The threat was that he would kill any police officers that came to his house or came back to his house," Blanton said.
State police arrived on the scene after deputies had left and believed Combs was barricaded his house.
"We were under the impression that he was still inside but he had left the house and he had gone next door," Blanton said.
State police set up a perimeter around the house and a special response team was able to enter the house and remove Combs' bedridden 80-year-old aunt, Eutheda Detridge, who was transported by ambulance to Fort Logan Hospital.
Blanton said Detridge was not injured during the standoff; she was taken to the hospital because she was already bedridden.
Once Detridge was out of the house, police used a flash-bang grenade to try to make Combs reveal himself.
After the grenade went off, Combs emerged from the next-door residence, which he owns, and surrendered peacefully to police, Blanton said.
Blanton said state police had multiple vehicles with flashing lights surrounding the house and used a public announcement system to attempt to talk with Combs when they believed he was in his own residence.
"He was right next door," he said. "It was definitely loud enough that he would have heard it from the other house."
The standoff with state police lasted several hours, ending around 5 a.m.
Combs was lodged in the Lincoln County Regional Jail on a 10-percent $5,000 bond. He posted bond and was released Tuesday.
