Standoff on Cherokee Street
Our neighborhood was turned upside-down yesterday when a man on our street barricaded himself in his home and was surrounded by police. While the police evacuated some of the bordering houses, we were far enough down the street that Jennifer and Evan simply stayed inside during the standoff. Now that the situation is over and has been resolved without anyone being harmed, I am grateful to our law enforcement for their quick action and for defusing the situation.
Jennifer and I feel very sad for this family and this tragedy. The Grahams have gone through many trials over the past months including having their son nearly die several times, losing a car to repossession, and having their truck stolen. Clearly all of this along with other factors led to irrational actions which escalated a bad situation into something much much worse.
After talking about the day’s events Jenn and I came to several conclusions. First, no matter how great a neighborhood you live in you never know what can happen. Second, no matter how bad a situation is, failing to do as police officers direct will only make the situation worse. Third, the longer this type of situation goes on the worse the consequences will be. Once this neighbor surrendered to police he was arrested and is now being held for “making terroristic threats and domestic violence in the presence of children.” No matter how bad this family’s problems were prior to yesterday’s events, they are now much worse.
As for the silly woman who told the reporter that she was planning on moving because she believed her neighborhood was too dangerous, that is simply ridiculous. While I worried during the situation yesterday, I feel completely safe in a great neighborhood that I am proud to call home. Our street is one where the kids outnumber the adults 3 or 4 to 1. We have spontaneous street BBQs and serve one another in many unspoken ways. I can honestly say that our wonderful little community overlooking Utah Lake is one of the warmest most family friendly places I have ever lived.
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