Full Notification

Mental Health Stand Off

On 01-17-2017, the Janesville Police Department had contact with a subject several times throughout the course of the day. This subject was reporting several different things that seemed odd in the manner they were being reported. The subject has a history with the Janesville Police Department Crisis Intervention Team. At approximately 4:00 pm, Officer Erlien (CIT officer) determined that the subject was experiencing a mental health event and needed to be detained. This subject was irrational and making threats to harm anyone who comes near them.

Officers responded to a residence on the east side of Janesville to attempt contact. The subject immediately slammed the door and refused to talk. Officers attempted contact for nearly an hour with no response from the subject. The subject stood facing a wall in a catatonic state inside the residence.

Officers covertly assembled a REACT team to establish communications and an arrest team. Officer Northrop placed stop sticks in front of the garage in the event the subject tried to leave in a vehicle. Officer Fuhrmann brought a “Pepper ball” launcher as a less lethal option.

At 5:42 pm, the subject began communicating with officers. Officer Melton, a crisis negotiator for Janesville S.W.A.T. spoke with the subject through the locked door. The two spoke until 7:03 pm. During this time, officers could not see well enough to determine if the subject was armed or not. Communications became stagnant and were not improving. The subject was alone and not a threat to themselves inside the residence.

After evaluating the collateral information, we felt the best option for this case was to disengage and leave surveillance units in place to monitor the residence. The surveillance units positioned themselves to take the subject into custody if they left. They also had a plan in place to re-engage communication after a cooling off period.

At 7:17 pm, the subject opened the garage door. The person backed their vehicle out of the garage, running over the stop sticks. Officers quickly advanced on the subject and took the person into custody. The subject had a large hunting style knife in the vehicle on the seat next to them. The subject reported days prior to this event that they bought that knife for protection.

Officers secured the subject in handcuffs and transported the subject to a medical facility in Dane County for further treatment. The event lasted nearly 3 hours. The officers spent that entire time working toward de-escalating the subject. The officers were able to re-establish communications and establish a plan for securing the subject.

We are withholding some of the details, including the incident number, to protect the identity of the subject involved. The result of this investigation is that a person experiencing a significant mental health event was secured and transferred to a suitable medical facility. The incident ended without any injuries to the officers or the subject. The conclusion left the community safer and the subject is getting the medical assistance they need.


By: Sergeant Mike Blaser 2244
Date: 01-17-2017



Pursuant to the directive of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, as found in Supreme Court Rule 20:3:6 Trial Publicity, you are advised that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.