A man yelling and throwing items, damaging things inside his home caused police to shut down the area of East A Street near Cloverland Avenue on Tuesday, Aug. 4 while officers tried to determine the safety of anyone else inside.

Oakdale Police Chief Lester Jenkins said that at 2:44 p.m., police were called to a residence in the 600 block of East A Street regarding an “out-of-control male” inside the residence throwing things and breaking out the windows.

When officers arrived, a floor fan was on the ground outside the house below a broken front window and the subject, a 49-year-old man known to police, was inside screaming obscenities.

Initially, police did not know if anyone else was inside the house or in danger. Officers kept in communication with the man, who at times was threatening and refused to come out of the home.

Police learned the man lived with his mother and later discovered she was not in danger, or was in the house at the time, when she met with officers.

Since the man was not a threat to anyone – including himself – and was only damaging his own personal property, there was no action the police could take since there were no other problems.

Jenkins said the stand-off lasted nearly two hours until police cleared the scene.

“The risk was too great to go in for someone who had not committed fresh crimes,” Jenkins said, adding the man did have a misdemeanor warrant. “We’ll wait for a better time later (for the arrest).”