40°
The Bergen County Mental Health Screening Agency asked that a Wyckoff officer respond to the Martom Road home off Van Houten Avenue with them to assist in a mental health screening of a man who lives there just after 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Police Lt. Joseph Soto said.
The man "came to the door and made several concerning comments and then barricaded himself in the home," Soto said.
Wyckoff officers, in turn, "took a tactical position" and contacted the SWAT team, he said.
They also told neighbors to remain indoors while cordoning off several blocks around the quiet neighborhood beginning around 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
A crisis negotiator talked with the man and convinced him to surrender at 3:17 p.m., Soto said.
"He was evaluated on scene and then transported to a local medical facility to receive treatment," the lieutenant said.
Chief David Murphy thanked all of the responders and said he was "grateful for the successful and safe conclusion and the cooperation and patience of all residents in the immediate area."
The Bergen County Regional SWAT team is now four-for-four this month, thanks to crisis negotiators who work alongside the unit.
This past Monday, a suicidal man who'd barricaded himself in an apartment above an East Rutherford restaurant after holding a gun to his girlfriend's head came out after talking with a negotiator.
Two days earlier, they rammed open the door of an Elmwood Park home and seized a man who'd threatened to kill himself.
On April 6, a negotiator talked a barricaded gang member out of his girlfriend's Elmwood Park apartment after he stabbed and slashed himself.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Pascack Valley and receive free news updates.
