20-hour standoff ends with arrest
HALFMOON, NY >> A 20-hour-long standoff with law enforcement in a Halfmoon mobile home park came to an end without injury Monday morning with the arrest of Michael J. Davis, 38.
According to a New York State Police statement, Davis went to an address at Halfmoon Heights, the former Turf Mobile Home Park, around April 16 to visit his child. An order of protection for that address and for a resident there had been issued earlier in the month. The order prevents Davis from being at the home and having contact with one of the occupants there.
Police said all the occupants at the home Sunday left it upon Davis’s entry with what is believed to be a shotgun. Once inside and as law enforcement began to arrive, he refused to leave and made various threats which included suicide.
Once state police were sure Davis was alone, officers surrounded the residence and established communications with him to negotiate a surrender. Negotiations occurred throughout the long standoff that went through the night and ended Monday morning. During that time police said several rounds from a gun were fired, one exiting the home. Davis eventually surrendered peacefully after tear gas was used.
He was charged with first degree criminal contempt, first degree reckless endangerment, menacing a police officer, fourth degree criminal possession of a weapon and a state Department of Environmental Conservation violation for discharging a firearm.
Davis was arraigned in Halfmoon Town Court and sent to the Saratoga County Jail without bail.
Neighbors living near the home on Sue Lane said the incident started Sunday with an argument between Davis and his wife.
Adam Tedrick, his wife Laurenda and their five children live two lots away from the Davis home. After going to church Sunday they were not allowed back into their home due to the heavy law enforcement presence. The family spent the night in a motel courtesy of the Red Cross.
“There was a problem about 10 days ago,” Adam Tedrick said. “He punched his wife and threatened her. He has a number of issues. When I looked out Sunday and saw something going on I said, not again. It’s got to be Mike. How long will it go on this time?”
The Tedrick family left their two dogs, Layla and Lilly and their cat, Bootsie, in the home and went to church. When they returned they were not allowed to return to their home. They went to a nearby emergency services station and Red Cross eventually put the family up in a Best Western motel.
“We had ham and cheesecake waiting for us for Easter dinner but instead we wound up having two pizzas from Stewart’s’” Tedrick said. “The kids were getting hungry. Red cross put a handful of us up for the night.”
The Tedricks returned to their home around 11:15 a.m. Monday.
By mid-morning Monday the scene in front of the home was quiet with a few residents who live in the park walking by and taking photos.
One of them was Tom Jones who lives less than 200 yards away on Fern Lane. Unlike the Tedricks, Jones and his wife were allowed past the yellow police tape when they returned to their mobile home. Jones has lived in the park for the past eight months but says it’s normally quiet.
He confirmed Tedrick’s statement that there had been a domestic disturbance at the Davis home April 5 where law enforcement was called.
“It’s just rumor and hearsay,” Jones said, “But I heard there were no weapons during that one and that he was just given a misdemeanor and was out right away.”
Jones said he saw Davis come to the window at one point during the Easter incident and heard loud explosions which he thought were flash grenades. He said he did not hear any shots from a weapon fired.
Referring to the Sunday incident he said he was just happy that it ended peacefully and that no one was hurt, especially because of the number of children that live in the park and were out on the warm day.
“It was kind of nerve racking,” he said. “I lived in Albany for 60 years and never saw a SWAT team but they were here yesterday. There was a big police presence here. We were secure where we were because the police secured it, but after a while you feel like you’re trapped. They didn’t want us outside and I understand. I told my wife, ‘this is one Easter we won’t ever forget.’”