An SCV standoff
Domestic assault suspect arrested after barricading himself in vacant store
An “armed and dangerous” suspect believed to be “high on meth” and wanted for domestic assault who hid in the rafters of a vacant Sports Chalet building in Stevenson Ranch Tuesday morning, swinging a two by four and refusing to come out for deputies, has been arrested.
What began as a domestic assault call to 911 early Tuesday morning ended about six hours later with the suspect being taken into custody without force and without incident, Lt. Chuck Becerra of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station told The Signal Tuesday morning.
“Three hours of negotiating proved ineffective,” he said. “So we called in our special enforcement team.”
Team members entered the former Sports Chalet store on The Old Road as the suspect hid in the rafters of the building.
Shortly after 10:15 a.m., the suspect was taken into custody.
Polo Ramos, 31, was arrested on suspicion of having committed a felony at 10:20 a.m. by local
sheriff’s deputies.
Ramos was taken into custody and placed in the jail cell at the Sheriff’s Station on Magic Mountain Parkway, with bail set at $50,000.
He is scheduled to appear Wednesday in San Fernando Superior Court, according to information maintained by the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Inmate Information Center.
The standoff began about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, when deputies received a 911 call from a woman reporting she had been assaulted by her boyfriend, he said.
“We showed up, he flees into a vacant building,” Becerra said, identifying the former Sport Chalet store on The Old Road, south of McBean Parkway. “While he’s inside there, we run his name and find out he’s wanted for assault with a deadly weapon.”
Deputies confirmed the man was an “armed and dangerous” suspect, he said.
“We barricaded the building and then we spot him on the roof. Then, we send in the canine unit as a tactical effort,” he said, referring to the police dog.
“We then learned he was hiding in the rafters,” Becerra said. “He refused to come out.”
At that point, deputies called in the crisis negotiating team.
“We are now waiting for him to come down but, allegedly, he is high on meth and swinging a two by four,” he said, referring to a piece of wood measuring two inches thick and four inches wide.
“Time is on our side,” he said when deputies began their standoff, noting there was no threat to any other person.