Local law enforcement and public safety agencies responded to a residence within the 1700 block of 9th Street in reference to an individual who was experiencing a mental crisis and was barricaded within a residence, Tuesday afternoon.
Levelland Police Chief Albert Garcia explained that the individual was not being violent, however, the family members of the individual were concerned enough that they felt it was necessary for them to contact public safety personnel for assistance.
Around 12 p.m., the incident began with LPD and Hockley County Sheriff’s Office personnel on scene as well. Garcia explained that the first steps during a situation similar to this instance is gathering information from the family members and understanding the situation as far as the mental crisis the individual is under.
“Moving forward, continued to follow our protocols with the LPD, activated the appropriate response at that point and additional resources were called in,” explained Garcia. “We contacted our drone personnel to have an overwatch type view of the location, we contacted our emergency management coordinator to have our MOV staged and ready at the location, we contacted Levelland EMS and StarCare to assist us with mental evaluations.”
Ultimately, a team was formed to gain entry into the residence as multiple attempts through police vehicle PA systems and phone calls were unsuccessful. The team located the individual in their own bedroom and was in mental distress.
The individual was medically evaluated on scene before being transported Covenant Hospital Levelland where the person was later transported to University Medical Center in Lubbock.
“It was successful all the way around,” said Garcia. “No one was injured or hurt. The individual was removed from the residence and is now being provided with the care that person needs to return back to the community and be a valid productive member of our society.”
Garcia also added that the individual did have weapons within the bedroom but did not attempt to arm themselves or escalate the situation further.
“I am happy we were able to get this individual the help they needed and keep everyone safe,” said Garcia. “There are times where individuals in mental crisis cannot ask for help themselves, but in this instance, we were able to be there for that individual.”
After roughly two and a half hours, public safety personnel cleared the scene around 2:30 p.m.
With heavy public safety presence in multiple instances in Levelland, Garcia touched on why citizens may be asking why these situations constitute big operations.
“July 15, 2021, taught us a lot and one of the main things that it taught us is that we can’t take anything for granted, we can’t be complacent and we have to make sure that we are doing everything that we need to do to keep our community safe and all public safety personnel,” explained Garcia. If anyone is ever been around someone that is in mental crisis, depending on what kind of mental crisis it may be may constitute the type of response that we have.”