Palm Springs Police Chief Andy Mills called it a "tale of two worlds" after police and SWAT team members responded to an alleged hostage situation on Dec. 10 while the department held its annual "Shop With a Cop" celebration.
"Today was shop w/ a cop," Mills said in a Facebook post. "It's a tale of two worlds. While Santa was arriving on a CHP helicopter, a mother elsewhere was screaming for help, She was violently assaulted and her child was reportedly held hostage. SWAT officers, the one's shopping, took off in the armored vehicle to rescue a child, as Santa handed out gift cards at shop w a cop. Both missions were successful."
Mills said the SWAT officers who arrived on scene had been participating in the department's annual "Shop With a Cop" moments before the call came in. While Mills said the situation was harrowing, he also said the juxtaposition was typical of policing.
"One minute you are laughing and posing for pictures (with) kids, the next rescuing a hostage," he said in the post.
Also on Dec. 10, officers responded to a call just after 8:30 a.m. in which a suspect had reportedly barricaded himself in a home while holding his 12-year-old child hostage, a Palm Springs Police Department (PSPD) news release posted on Facebook said. A woman told police her husband had assaulted her, thrown her out of their house and threatened to kill her. The man had also reportedly threatened to assault and kill the child.
When police arrived, they began negotiating with the man for the release of the child, PSPD said. After the man proved uncooperative, the Desert Regional SWAT Team was to be called to the scene. The situation escalated to the point where police believed the child's life was in danger, forcing them to make a forced entry into the home.
The child was rescued at approximately 10:35 a.m. after a brief struggle, and the suspect was arrested and detained in the John J. Benoit Detention Center. The man faces charges including attempted murder, spousal abuse, kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, child endangerment, making criminal threats, and resisting a police officer, the news release said.