Just after 3:00pm Saturday afternoon June 6th, the Crescent City area California Highway Patrol, was advised that the National Park Service was in pursuit of a tan Buick Century heading northbound on Hwy. 101 in Humboldt County.
At the Del Norte County line, National Park Service officers requested the California Highway Patrol take over the pursuit and California Highway Patrol units got in position, deployed a spike strip and successfully deflated all of the suspects tires.
The suspect vehicle continued traveling north for approximately one mile before coming to a stop on Hwy. 101 and blocking the northbound traffic lanes.
As California Highway Patrol units initiated felony stop procedures, the driver, and sole occupant of the vehicle displayed a firearm, and would not relinquish the weapon to law enforcement personnel. The suspect remained in the vehicle pointing the gun at himself and threatening his life while refusing to comply with the directions of the officers for approximately 11 hours.
During the 11 hour stand-off, traffic had completely stopped in both northbound and southbound lanes of traffic, trapping some in their vehicles for hours.
The Red Cross, and other local emergency Services provided blankets and other supplies to motorists stranded between South Beach and Klamath due to the ongoing law enforcement incident.
It wasn’t until 11:00pm after an order from Public Health and the Office of Emergency Services, that COVID-19 restrictions were lifted to allow emergency rental of rooms to non-residents of Del Norte County who were trapped on either side of the Hwy. 101 shutdown. The Yurok Office of Emergency Services also opened their hotel to stranded motorists.
With the assistance of the Del Norte County Sheriff, Erik Apperson, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Fish and Wildlife, National Parks Service, State Parks, Yurok Tribal Police, and the California Department of Transportation, the subject ultimately surrendered and taken into custody.
