Baltimore police officer de-escalates standoff

A Baltimore police officer is being praised by the department for de-escalating a situation in which a man with a knife appeared to be trying to provoke police into shooting him.

Instead, Officer Angel Villaronga was able to talk to the man, build a rapport and convince him to hand over his knife without further incident, according to police and the footage from Villaronga’s body camera.Villaronga “relied on personal experience coupled with his training to relate to an individual going through a difficult moment,” said T.J. Smith, the department’s chief spokesman. “He took full control of the scenario, even telling other officers to back up, as he continued to talk to the man. Simply put: He leveled with him and the man responded.”

The incident, which occurred one evening early last month, was first reported by WBFF Baltimore. Police released the body-camera footage of the incident to The Baltimore Sun upon request. The footage shows Villaronga, an 8-year veteran of the city police force, arrive at the scene at a point when several other officers were already lining the block.

“He’s stating that he’s not going to drop the knife,” says an officer on the radio.

“I told you before, we’re not trying to hurt you. You have ultimate control of how this ends,” says an officer on the scene. Villaronga quickly moves to the sidewalk not far from the man and begins to engage him in conversation. Body-camera footage shows Baltimore police officer de-escalate standoff with armed man in crisis

He asks how old the man is, whether he has kids, a girlfriend, friends. He listens as the man describes a complicated domestic situation with his girlfriend. He wonders if they might be able to chat without the knife being involved.

Read more at Baltimore Sun