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The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 12:00 p.m., Wednesday, July 16, 2003

Waipahu standoff suspect collapses

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

A 5-1/2 hour incident in which a 38-year-old man barricaded himself in a Waipahu apartment yesterday ended shortly before 2 p.m. when he passed out after swallowing pills.

Michael Gaspar “passed out due to possible drug ingestion and dehydration and had an irregular heartbeat,” said Jim Propotnick, the state Public Safety Department’s deputy director of law enforcement.

Gaspar, who is wanted on a parole-revocation warrant, remained hospitalized today at St. Francis Medical Center-West, said First Deputy Sheriff Cappy Caminos. Gaspar, who is under 24-hour guard, will be arrested when he is discharged from the hospital, either tomorrow or Friday.

Caminos said Gaspar passed out after he swallowed an unknown amount or type of pills. His wife, Sara, opened the door to a second-floor bedroom of their Nova Sunset Villas Apartments unit at 207 Waipahu St. to allow police to enter and get help for her husband.

Gaspar had barricaded himself in the bedroom with his wife and 7-month-old daughter from about 8:30 a.m., when seven sheriff’s deputies, including two cross-deputized members of the U.S. marshal’s fugitive task force, went to the public-housing complex to arrest Gaspar. Caminos said the suspect locked himself in a second-floor bedroom as officers entered the apartment.

Gaspar has13 convictions for felony offenses such as kidnapping, armed robbery, escape and carrying a deadly weapon, Propotnick said. A warrant for Gaspar’s arrest was issued after he failed to contact his parole officer as required on June 9, and July 7 and 8, Propotnick said.

The Red Cross helped residents who were required to leave their homes during the standoff.