PORTLAND — Police plan to pursue a civil action against a man who was at the center of a 13½-hour standoff that ended peacefully early Friday morning.
Patrick Mullen, 41, was taken into protective custody and brought to Maine Medical Center for a psychological evaluation after police escorted him out of his Washburn Street apartment.
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Mullen has not been charged with any criminal offenses, but police hope to recoup the costs associated with the standoff. Capt. Ted Ross said he did not have an estimate of the costs.
“I do know it’s significant,” Ross said.
Police were called to Mullen’s apartment building, near the intersection of St. John Street and Hadlock Field, shortly after 3 p.m. on Thursday after someone reported that he was making suicidal and homicidal threats during a telephone conversation.
Officers blocked some nearby streets and some residents of Washburn Street were driven from their homes as a result of the incident.
Police said they were unable to get Mullen to engage in conversation with them. But during brief exchanges with police, Mullen made a number of threats, including blowing up the building or burning it down. He was also seen displaying a handgun.
The Police Department’s special reaction team and hostage crisis negotiators were called in. The Southern Maine Tactical Team, comprising officers from South Portland, Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth, joined the effort in the early morning hours.
Officers fired tear gas into the building on two occasions, once after midnight and again after 3 a.m. Police had already gotten Mullen’s golden retriever out of the building by breaching a doorway and had given it to a family member by then, Ross said.
Police entered Mullen’s apartment through a window around 4:30 a.m. and Mullen left without any resistance.
Ross said police were unable to find the handgun Mullen displayed in the clutter of the apartment.
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