Police confront man in standoff

By TED CZECH
Daily Record/Sunday News
Sunday, January 2, 2005

An armed man who refused to leave his Windsor Township home Saturday morning — and who police said fired a shot into one of their vehicles — peacefully surrendered six hours later.

Harold F. Frazier, 46, of the 200 block of Taylor Road, was charged with aggravated assault, institutional vandalism, recklessly endangering another person, and disorderly conduct. As of Saturday, Frazier was still in York County Prison on $10,000 bail.

“Luckily, everything worked out for us, and it ended peacefully,” said York City Police Lt. Wes Kahley, commander of the York County Quick Response Team.

The stand-off began just after midnight Saturday, when a relative of Frazier’s called York County 911 and said that Frazier was armed with a gun, intoxicated and suicidal, said York Area Regional Police Officer Leonard Hoffer.

Minutes later, four York Area Regional officers, each in their own cruiser, arrived at Frazier’s home. Hoffer, who was the last to arrive, said his fellow officers saw Frazier inside his home, and so they positioned themselves around the house.

That’s when Frazier allegedly shot a police cruiser’s left rear tire, Sgt. Patrick Gundel said.

“We figured it wasn’t directed toward us,” because no officers were inside or near the vehicle parked in Frazier’s driveway, Hoffer said.

Hoffer said Frazier used a rifle to allegedly fire the shot from inside his home through a broken window.

Hoffer’s commanding officers, including Chief Thomas Gross, arrived at the stand-off. At some point, the York County Quick Response Team was called, Hoffer said.

The team has officers from numerous municipal departments specially trained to protect the public and negotiate with an armed person refusing to come out of a house.

The team’s negotiators began talking with Frazier by phone, Kahley said.

“It went on for several hours,” Kahley said, although he declined to say what prompted Frazier to surrender at 6:22 a.m.

Kahley said Frazier walked out of his house unarmed and did not struggle with police. York Area Regional officers went through Frazier’s house and found several other weapons and ammunition, Hoffer said.

Reach Ted Czech at 771-2033 or tczech@ydr.com.