A Turlock fugitive wanted by the Stanislaus County Auto Theft Task Force barricaded himself inside a Keyes mobile home and kicked off a standoff with the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s SWAT team that ended with his surrender when tear gas was lobbed into the trailer.
The four-hour impasse ended with the arrest of 35-year-old Paul Parmley on a felony charge of evading police and a parole violation, said sheriff spokesman Deputy Luke Schwartz. The evading charge originates from a vehicle pursuit Parmley was allegedly involved in earlier this week with law enforcement.
Additionally, Parmley is the key suspect in several Merced area burglaries that the Merced County Sheriff’s Department is investigating, Schwartz said.
The standoff began at 10:17 a.m. Thursday when detectives from the task force and patrol deputies descended on a home in the 5400 block of 8th Street in Keyes, as part of a follow-up investigation involving Parmley. Investigators had reason to suspect Parmley, who was a wanted parolee at large, had been hiding out at the residence.
As the team of detectives and deputies approached the home, they witnessed Parmley run from the back yard to the trailer.
At that time it was unknown if Parmley was armed, so the team took the precaution of holding back on their approach and set up a perimeter around the mobile home, Schwartz said.
The Special Weapons and Tactics team was brought in and the block was closed. The sheriff’s department evacuated the other residents of the mobile home, as well as a few nearby neighbors, Schwartz said. As a precautionary measure, students from Keyes Elementary were diverted to the Keyes Fire Department, where their parents could safely pick them up.
Negotiators made several attempts to speak to Parmley via a loud speaker and a cell phone they had thrown into the house, but Parmley ignored their efforts and failed to surrender, Schwartz said.
With the hours dragging on and no progress being made on Parmley’s part, the SWAT team made the decision the deploy tear gas as a method to bring the suspect out of the home. After launching two canisters into the house Parmley surrendered himself to the authorities and was taken into custody without any further incident.
The neighborhood was opened back up to the residents around 2:45 p.m.
To contact Sabra Stafford, e-mail sstafford@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2002.
