Oildale standoff ends peacefully
| Saturday, Jan 17 2009 03:31 PM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 01:40 PM
A 4 1/2-hour SWAT standoff in Oildale ended quietly Saturday with the man at the center of it being deemed not a threat to himself or others and so left alone.
The Sheriff’s Department had gotten word about 10:50 a.m. that the man, later identified as 58-year-old Clyde Bivins, was threatening suicide and to shoot any officers who tried to approach his house, said sheriff’s Cmdr. Dan Leper.
Authorities also heard the man had a high-powered firearm. The man lived in the 500 block of McKelvey Avenue, just north of Merle Haggard Drive and west of North Chester Avenue.
A woman was also in the house but she didn't want to leave, Leper said.
SWAT team members, hostage negotiators and county mental health workers converged on the scene. Bivins talked to sheriff’s negotiators and county mental health workers throughout the day via phone.
Eventually, Leper said, mental health officials deemed Bivins not a threat under the law and authorities left the house.
