SIDNEY — A Sidney man was taken into custody Friday afternoon after displaying a handgun and sparking a several-hours-long standoff at his home on Richard Road.
Randy Wathen, 40, of 77 Richard Road, was arrested on a charge of domestic violence aggravated assault, according to Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland, stemming from an incident that took place Thursday night in Portland. He said no charges had been filed as a result of the standoff Friday.
“Those decisions will come later,” McCausland said.
Maine State Police initially went to the home around 9 a.m. to serve a warrant for the incident that took place in Portland on Thursday. Additional details about Thursday’s incident were not immediately available.
Emergency dispatch reports on Friday said a person was barricaded in a residence and that the state police tactical team was on scene. More than a dozen state police cruisers could be seen parked along the road Friday afternoon. Richard Road is a short, dead-end road off Middle Road, which intersects with exit ramps for Interstate 95.
Wathen “refused to come out of the house and, in the very early stages, he displayed a hand gun,” McCausland said. “The state police tactical team was called in in the late morning.”
He noted that when the tactical team is mobilized a team of negotiators works with them.
“They set up a line of communication with him,” McCausland said, “and he surrendered.”
Wathen surrendered to state troopers at around 3:15 p.m., and he was taken to the Kennebec County jail in Augusta. No information about bail was immediately available.
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