The Ithaca Police Department SWAT team was called to respond to an occurrence of domestic abuse on Hudson Street around 12:30 p.m. Nov. 27.
Damien Blackman, 38, barricaded himself in a second-floor bedroom in a house on Hudson Street after the Ithaca Police responded to the scene. Blackman was wanted for a felony charge of possessing a controlled substance in the third degree, according to a press release from the Ithaca Police Department.
Police called in the SWAT team “out of an abundance of caution,” according to the release. They did this because Blackman refused to surrender to police and because the scene of the incident was close to South Hill Elementary School.
The situation ended with Blackman surrendering to police. He was turned over to the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office.
Mayor Svante Myrick said on Facebook that the police did an excellent job responding to the situation.
