Long Standoff Angers Businesses Police Say Handling Of Swordsman Prudent

Police Chief Norm Stamper apologized Friday to downtown businesses, residents and commuters inconvenienced by an 11-hour police standoff with a mentally ill man wielding a sword.

But he said the fact that the man is still alive shows that officers used prudent judgment.

“I suppose there were probably a number of times yesterday when legally we would have been justified … in taking this man’s life,” Stamper said at a news conference. “Our job is to preserve human life.”

Some business owners, however, were angry police took so long to resolve the crisis Thursday.

Emmanuel Marinakis, whose Olympic Broiler restaurant was evacuated and shut down as the drama unfolded, said he plans to sue the department. Marinakis figures he lost more than $1,000 in business.

“They took 11 hours to resolve this matter, which to me could be done in two or three hours,” Marinakis said.

Stamper said it’s unlikely the man with the sword - 41-year-old Tony Allison - will be charged with a crime.

“What we know about the individual is he is very mentally ill and would not in any likelihood be considered eligible or qualified to stand trial,” the chief said.

“I truly am sorry” that citizens were inconvenienced by the daylong standoff, Stamper said. “But I would also say that this man is in the hospital today and not the morgue.”

Allison, wearing military fatigues and sunglasses and brandishing a 3-foot-long, samurai-style sword, was spotted on a downtown street by an officer shortly after 11 a.m. Thursday.

Police evacuated a busy downtown block, forcing several businesses to close and clogging traffic. Hostage negotiators tried unsuccessfully to talk the man into surrendering.

Hundreds watched as police tried unsuccessfully to force the man to drop the sword, using a variety of nonlethal tactics. They fired rubber, wood and bean-bag-like projectiles at him. They used pepper spray and an irritant gas. They used fire hoses to soak him and electric fans to chill him.

The incident ended shortly after 10 p.m., when officers knocked Allison down with blast from a high-pressure hose and then pinned him down with a ladder. Officers wrestled the sword away and placed him in restraints.

He was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he was treated for bruises. No one else was injured.

Stamper said it’s possible the man could be committed for mental-health treatment.

Relatives said the man was homeless and had been institutionalized for 10 years after being diagnosed as a schizophrenic and manic depressive. He was released from Western State Hospital last year.

Reaction to Police Department’s handling of the situation was mixed.

“I think that some businesses would say, ‘Gosh, it was a huge inconvenience and they handled things poorly and it should have been more expeditious,”’ said Lucinda Payne, director of marketing for the Downtown Seattle Association.

“But some businesses would say we live here because there’s a more humanistic approach to challenges like this.”

Don Alexander of the Seattle Human Rights Commission, which in the past has criticized police use of force, praised officers’ handling of the disturbance.

“I guess what one has to take into consideration is what value one puts on the bottom line,” Alexander said. “I put more value to human life than I do to the almighty dollar.”

Marinakis contends police could have subdued the swordsman much more quickly.

“To me it was a minor incident and they made it into a worldwide situation,” he said. “People called me from Greece this morning to see if I’m alive because they saw it on CNN news.”