By William Henderson, Danvers Herald (Massachussetts)
A nine-hour standoff between police and a suicidal Essex Street resident ended peacefully Sunday, thanks to what police credit as a combination of time and conversation.
When several police officers attempted to arrest Francis Kernan, 42, on a domestic abuse charge at 5 a.m. Sunday, he locked himself inside his 19 Essex St. home and refused to come out. After he threatened to hurt himself, police sealed off the neighborhood and called in the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council and the State Police for assistance.
Police did not evacuate neighborhood homes during the standoff, although residents were only allowed to leave from and return to their homes with a police escort. While Kernan’s neighbors, Steven Cole and Vikki Friend-Cole, who live on the second floor of the multi-family house, were stuck inside the home during the ordeal, police did not consider them at risk.
With close to 40 police officers outside his home, Kernan surrendered to Sgt. Robert Bettencourt and NEMLEC hostage negotiators at just after 2 p.m. He was taken to Beverly Hospital for an evaluation, police said.
Danvers police Capt. Neil Ouellette credited the situation’s peaceful end to time.
“Sometimes, it pays to just stand back, to take the time, and talk,” he said to reporters and curious onlookers Sunday afternoon, “to take a breath and try to negotiate.”
Early Sunday morning, police went to Kernan’s house after receiving a domestic dispute complaint against Kernan. The complaint, according to police, came from Kernan’s wife, Regina Salvanelli, 58. The two had spent the evening at a local veteran’s hall.
Salvanelli told police that Kernan had threatened to kill her and her animals. Kernan was holed-up inside the home with four dogs, seven parrots, and 15 zebra finches.
Police did not find weapons when Kernan surrendered.
He said that he had barricaded himself in his home after a drunken brawl with his wife. He claimed to have a pocket knife.
“She ran off and went to the cops,” Kernan told a Boston Herald reporter who happened to call the house when trying to find anyone in the neighborhood who might know about the situation. “I have a bad phobia of police. I don’t want them to touch me,” he said, while police were camped outside his home.
“My freedom is more important to me than my life,” he said.
Throughout the morning and early afternoon, curious onlookers approached police lines but were not allowed near the scene. Some gathered near Heritage Bank on Essex Street and watched from the bank’s drive-through lane.
Police cruisers from Danvers and other nearby communities, NEMLEC SWAT team trucks and unmarked police cruisers were parked along Essex Street, with firefighters and paramedics also stationed in the neighborhood.
Town Manager Wayne Marquis, who was on the scene for a portion of the standoff, said this week that he was “impressed” by what took place Sunday.
“With the resources, manpower, equipment, electronic surveillance, and negotiations that we had,” he said, “I was impressed. This certainly could have ended up with someone being harmed.”
This was the first time since Danvers joined the NEMLEC consortium of regional task forces that such support was needed. Capt. Ouellette said this week that he was “very impressed” with the response, as he was with the state police who responded.
“When you have resources like that, you feel very comfortable when you’re faced with a situation like this,” he said.
Police charged Kernan with domestic assault and battery and may bring additional charges as a result of the standoff. Kernan was arraigned in Salem District Court Monday.
According to Steve O’Connell, spokesman for the Essex District Attorney’s Office, the judge did not rule on the dangerousness hearing held Monday, but did hold Kernan without bail and committed him to Bridgewater State Hospital for 20 days. While there, Kernan will undergo a competency evaluation to determine whether he understands the workings of the court and whether he will be able to help his defense counsel prepare for his case.
Kernan is due back in court for a pre-trial conference on Jan. 10.