Let’s visit the Midwestern U.S for another crime story as an Indiana man was arrested and charged on September 20, 2022 following a standoff with the Bloomington PD. The day’s events started around 9:30 AM at Seminary Park where police responded to a call involving a man swinging at people with a steel rod.
By the time the police arrived, the suspect had left and returned after getting a hatchet from a car parked in Kroger store parking lot. People at Seminary park reported that the man had thrown the hatchet at a group of citizens before fleeing the area.
Indiana Man Arrested Following Standoff After Terrorizing Bloomington Park – Threw a Hatchet at Citizens and Hid In a Storm Drain
Police scoured the area before coming across clothing hanging off a railing. Since there was a storm drain that an adult could enter, officers correctly guessed that their suspect slipped in side.
Officers called for Eric Swartzentruber (37) to surrender but Swartzentruber warned them against breaching and said that he had a rifle.
Taking cover and calling in the Indian State Police’s SWAT team, authorities used maps of the sewer system in an attempt to find where the suspect was exactly. While removing sewer covers, police found a rifle cartridge which prompted them to use flash and noise devices to force him out of hiding.
Near the nine-hour mark of this situation, Eric Swartzentruber said that he would be exiting the sewer system to the north before fleeing south. A SWAT K-9 would nab the 37-year-old menace.
After taking an empty handgun off of him and sending him to the hospital for treatment, police investigated the sewer. A machete, unfired rifle cartridges, and a sickle were retrieved.
However, there’s more to this story as police would find out that Swartzentruber actually started his day off by trying to get a woman to live in the sewers with him. This incident was three hours before swinging a steel rod around and throwing a hatchet at Seminary Park.
When she declined, he threatened her with a machete and said that he’d return. Swartzentruber returned a couple of minutes later with a stolen truck and began packing for her. The woman him that she did not want to end up in jail.
He reportedly told her “I’ll bail you out, break you out. And the police will have to take me down dead before they take me because I got this,” referring not to the rifle or handgun but the machete.
After that, he attempted to force himself on her, took off his pants, then stuffed cash down her shirt. After saying that she needed to use the bathroom, she grabbed his pant and fled her residence.
Eric Swartzentruber is facing attempted battery with a deadly weapon, intimidation, breaking and entering, sexual battery, and battery resulting in bodily injury charges.
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