A 26-year-old Destrehan man, who sat naked upon his apartment roof while screaming obscenities and ranting about God and the CIA, kept members of the parish’s Special Response Team and other officers busy for most of Halloween.
It also inconvenienced many of his neighbors, who spent most of the afternoon and night evacuated from their residences throughout the nearly eight-hour ordeal.
After receiving a call from a concerned neighbor, an officer arrived at a unit on Brandon Hall at 1:39 p.m. and observed the man leaning out of an upstairs window ranting and raving about topics from the CIA to God. The man, who was naked, eventually climbed out of his window, sat on the roof and continued talking, Sheriff’s Office spokesman Capt. Pat Yoes said.
“When the officer tried to calm him down and get him off the roof, he screamed out that he ‘couldn’t tell him what to do,’” Yoes said.
Though the man did go back inside, members of the parish’s Special Response Team arrived at the scene at around 4 p.m. in their armored-vehicle. They tried to calm him down enough to get him safely outside, but it wasn’t until around 9 p.m. that he was taken into custody and put into psychiatric care.
“For the safety of our officers, they attempted to calm him down instead of rush into the residence,” Yoes said. “There was an understanding that there were weapons inside, and since he wasn’t hurting anyone, they decided to wait until he calmed down.”
70-year-old Jody Taylor, a neighbor of the man, said that it was an unreal experience.
“I got up Saturday morning and it sounded like someone was having an early Halloween party,” she said. “I could hear all this screaming and profanity, and from what I understand, he was up there fighting with himself.
“I tried calling up to him, but he didn’t answer.”
Taylor, who said she serves as the “granny” of the eight-unit apartment complex, said she was even asked to try to calm the man down when police arrived. However, the man wouldn’t answer his phone.
“They were finally able to convince him that no one was trying to hurt him and that they just wanted to take him to the hospital,” Taylor said. “The policemen were so prepared and so calm. Their patience is the reason that no one was hurt.”
Taylor came away impressed with members of the Sheriff’s Office.
“I will never complain about policemen again,” she said. “They showed so much professionalism and I can not tell you how good I feel about living in Destrehan now.”
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