A Monmouth County man who set off a 10½ hour standoff on Monday is now facing several charges, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said.
The Matawan standoff tied up significant law enforcement resources and a robot that was used to bring the incident to a peaceful conclusion was damaged.
Michael “Bean” Geran, 51, of Johnson Avenue, Matawan, has been charged with second-degree false public alarms, second-degree possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose, and third-degree criminal mischief.
The case background …
The incident began with a request from a family member for a welfare check around 11:56 a.m. on Monday at a home in the first block of Johnson Avenue in the borough. Matawan police arrived to find Geran home, but he refused to come out of the residence. It was also determined that Geran was armed with a handgun.
Matawan police officers exhausted direct verbal communications followed by the defendant cutting off all communications with responding officers. As a result, the Matawan Police Department sought the assistance of the Monmouth County Emergency Response Team (MOCERT) and the Monmouth County Police Chief’s Association Rapid Deployment Force (RDF).
Once on scene, negotiators attempted to convince the man to surrender, but the surrender did not come until roughly 10:18 p.m. In the wake of the standoff, Geran was accused of cutting the wires on a MOCERT robot, before pushing the mechanical technology down a flight of stairs, causing more than $5,000 in damage.
The standoff was brought to a close with the assistance of members of the Monmouth County MOCERT, RDF, Monmouth County Sherriff’s Office, officers from the Aberdeen, Brielle, Hazlet, Howell, Keyport, Long Branch, Marlboro, Middletown, Ocean Township, Oceanport, and Wall Police Departments, Matawan Fire Department and Bayshore Emergency Medical Services.
After being safely removed from the scene, Geran was sent to a hospital to be medically evaluated.
You must be logged in to post a comment.