Man pulls knife at midday in downtown Glenwood park
Passersby in downtown Glenwood Springs Thursday afternoon might have noticed police activity at Ninth Street and Grand Avenue.
Officers were responding to a report at 1:49 p.m. that a homeless man had pulled a knife on another man in Centennial Park.
Officers arrived and found a man who matched the caller’s description. He was 52-year-old James Sandridge. The man began to walk away from the officers, and due to the uncertainty of the situation and the presence of a weapon, officers arrested him at gunpoint.
The officers found him with a 4-inch long folding knife.
Centennial Park is known to Glenwood officers as a gathering point for the transient population, according to Chief Terry Wilson.
In June of last year, another transient man was arrested on felony attempted first-degree aggravated assault with a weapon. In that case, the suspect reportedly pulled a knife during a physical struggle and slashed at the other man.
However, the man who called the report in Thursday afternoon was later reluctant to talk in much detail about what led to the argument, Wilson said.
Sandridge was therefore arrested on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and violation of a restraining order that bars him from possessing a weapon.
Because the reporting man was hesitant to talk, arresting charges reflect an incident of a knife being pulled out and brandished rather than used aggressively and causing the victim to fear for his life, explained the chief. The perception of the victim often weighs heavily in charging decisions, he said.
Sandridge was taken to the Garfield County jail.
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