Waipahu standoff suspect collapses
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| Police and SWAT members waited outside a Waipahu apartment yesterday where Mike Gaspar held officers at bay for 5 1/2 hours. His baby daughter and her mother also were in the apartment. The standoff ended when Gaspar had a seizure possibly caused by drugs.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser |
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
A 38-year-old man wanted on a parole-revocation warrant barricaded himself in a bedroom of his Waipahu apartment yesterday with his wife and infant daughter for 5 1/2 hours before apparently suffering what may have been a drug-induced seizure.
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 was "responsive" but in serious condition, said Emergency Medical Services personnel who took him to St. Francis Medical Center-West at about 2 p.m.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
His wife, Sara, 26, and their baby were not injured.
Law enforcement officers gather around the apartment at the Nova Sunset Villas public housing, where the standoff lasted for 5 1/2 hours.
The incident began at 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 Nova Sunset Villas Apartments public housing complex at 207 Waipahu St. to arrest Gaspar. State First Deputy Sheriff Cappy Caminos said Gaspar locked himself in a second-floor bedroom as officers entered the apartment.
The deputies tried for two hours to get Gaspar to surrender before calling the Police Department for assistance. Police officers from the Pearl City District's crime reduction unit responded and decided at 10:45 a.m. to call in the Specialized Services Division. Officers from that division officially took over the scene at 12:15 p.m.
Gaspar has had 13 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 June 9, and July 7 and 8, Propotnick said.
The Red Cross assisted residents who had to leave their homes during the standoff.
