On January 1, 2015, at approximately 11:30 am, El Dorado County Sheriff’s Deputies attempted to serve an arrest warrant in the 2200 block of Cold Springs Road in Placerville. A male living at the residence was wanted for charges related to felony domestic violence. When deputies attempted to contact him, he refused to exit the residence. At one point he came outside for a brief moment with a knife and said he was going to kill himself.

Due to the nature of the charges, the Crisis Response Unit was activated and the roadway closed. Announcements asking the subject to exit the residence were made over the next twelve hours without success. At the same time, Crisis Negotiators attempted to contact him on the telephone. A second phone was thrown into the residence so that he could communicate with negotiators.

After continuing to receive no response for several hours, SWAT deployed gas munitions hoping the male would comply. The subject still refused to answer the phone or make any contact with deputies. Fearing the subject still had the knife; SWAT did not make entry into the residence.

At approximately 11:00 pm, the Crisis Response Unit’s robot located the subject hiding in a bedroom closet. He was asked numerous times to exit the residence, but still he refused. At approximately 11:30 pm, Deputies noticed a small fire in the bedroom of where the subject was hiding. Deputies deployed numerous fire extinguishers at the same time as calling for fire personnel, who was already staged nearby.  The fire quickly spread through the bedroom as officers yelled for the subject to exit. Eventually, the subject walked outside and was immediately treated to by medical personnel on scene. Fire personnel were able to prevent any damage to surrounding properties; however, it appeared the residence sustained significant damage. The subject was airlifted to a hospital with unknown injuries. His identity is not being released at this time due to the ongoing investigation.

Sheriff D’Agostini appreciates the community’s patience during this incident and is very proud of the professionalism and patience of the men and women of the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office.