BENTONVILLE -- Two people were arrested Tuesday night after a six-hour standoff with police.
A shirtless Waymon May, 52, and Brenda Mars, 50, came out of a motel room at 3609 S.E. Walton Blvd. after the repeated urging of a police crisis negotiator. Bentonville Police Chief Jon Simpson said the two are from the Springdale area.
The shattering of glass was heard, and the negotiator could be heard repeatedly urging them to come out of the room.
The two were barricaded inside a room at the Econo Lodge, according to a news release from the police department.
The police were called just before 1 p.m. Tuesday to the motel concerning two guests not paying for an additional night's stay and causing a disturbance, Simpson said after the standoff ended.
The incident started after a complaint from hotel staff that two people were refusing to leave and causing a disturbance, Simpson said. "It turned into a barricaded-person situation," he said.
Simpson said the department's crisis negotiation team spent six hours on the telephone with May in particular. After communications were failing, he said, police decided to break a window.
Police continued to communicate over the phone and through the window, Simpson said.
"We were able to have a peaceful ending, and both subjects are out of the hotel," Simpson said.
Simpson said there was no use of force or loss of life. He said there was slight property damage with the broken window.
There were warrants for May's arrest in connection with parole violation, and police also obtained a warrant for May's arrest in connection with threatening to harm police, Simpson said.
Simpson said police did not obtain a warrant for Mars' arrest, but he said both could face criminal mischief charges for the damage to the room. He said the fixtures were torn and broken in an attempt to barricade a door.
Simpson said the negotiation team should be credited with ending the standoff without the use of force and the loss of life.
"I just talked with our negotiator," Simpson said. "He spent a full six hours pretty much continuous talking to our suspect over the phone and through the broken glass. He said I'm tired of talking and his voice is tired."
People in the community can know that the department is dedicated to communicate and deescalate and not use any force if it's not necessary, Simpson said.
