_{Thumbnail photo: Law enforcement with the Crescent City Police Department, Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office, Pelican Bay State Prison’s CERT Team and others secure the scene after an hours-long standoff ended with four children being taken into protective custody and a male and female suspect arrested. | Photo by Heather Polen}

Four children are in protective custody Monday evening after officers from multiple agencies engaged in a standoff with a 50-year-old man that lasted more than seven hours.

Three of the youngsters, ages 1, 2 and 4, were in the Crescent City apartment with Robert William Thraen when officers responded to the area to conduct a welfare check at about 10:30 a.m., Police Chief Richard Griffin told Redwood Voice Community News. 

Griffin said they were able to get the children to safety and arrest the suspect after he decided to have his officers break the window to open the front door — a technique he called a breach and hold. 

A fourth child, age 9, was also taken into protective custody after officers arrested her mother, 33-year-old Linley Davis. According to Griffin, Davis was fighting with Sheriff Garrett Scott and one of his deputies when he arrived on scene at the 800 block of B Street in Crescent City.

“The male subject broke one of the screens out and was throwing bottles, glass bottles,” Griffin told Redwood Voice. “And then he barricaded the door on the other officer that was at the front door.”

Once the standoff concluded, the children were taken to Sutter Coast Hospital to be checked for injuries, though none were apparent, Griffin said.

Thraen received minor lacerations to his face when officers pulled him to the ground. This was due to the glass from the broken bottles, according to Griffin.

There were no shots fired and no further injuries, the police chief said.

“Right now [Thraen] has two active warrants — one for assault with a deadly weapon for the bottles and for making criminal threats, and he had an active warrant for felony possession of a firearm,” Griffin said of the suspect. “And he’s going to have child endangerment charges and other charges, [including] resisting arrest.”

Griffin said his officers obtained a Ramey warrant during the stand-off to enter the apartment and search for Thraen. With the stand-off concluded, he said, his officers are working on obtaining a search warrant.

In addition to the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office, Griffin said he called on the Pelican Bay State Prison Critical Response Team and the PBSP Negotiations Team for assistance.

“They did an amazing job from start to finish,” Griffin said, telling Redwood Voice.

According to Griffin, his officers were dispatched to the 800 block of B Street after receiving a call from a neighbor at about 10:30 a.m. saying that Thraen was threatening to beat the children. That potential threat turned into an alleged statement from Thraen that he was going to shoot law enforcement in the face as well as the altercation between Davis and the sheriff, Griffin said.

Scott said he arrived on scene after hearing one of the Crescent City police officers “yell something about being shot in the face.” He said he found out that it was a threat to shoot someone in the face, though Thraen was allegedly throwing bottles from the upstairs window.

“The female had a child with her and she wasn’t moving the child,” Scott told Redwood Voice. “She was just ignoring everything and one of the officers [said], ‘we got to get your daughter out of the way’ and she ignored it. So when the officer put her hand on the girl’s arm and said ‘hey, you’re not safe here,’ she just went berserk and I ended up helping the officer and one of the deputies showed up.”

Both Scott and Griffin say they’re pleased with how the situation turned out. Griffin said he wanted to thank everyone involved, including law enforcement with Redwood National and State Parks.

Scott said he was impressed by the camaraderie and the incident planning between his office, CCPD and the Pelican Bay CERT and Negotiations teams.

“The situation could have been absolutely horrific and we were able to plan that safely and effectively,” Scott said. “And at the right time, we were able to take that suspect into custody with fairly minor injuries. He’s being housed at the jail now. I’m very impressed with our local law enforcement.”

Thraen is housed at the Del Norte County Jail under $50,000 bail, according to the DNSO’s online information page. Davis is also housed at the Del Norte County Jail.