A Virginia couple were arrested Thursday for assault and neglect of an 8-month-old child, but not until after the father barricaded himself in a home and forced a SWAT team to breach the front door and wall of the residence to get him out.
Nikki Angelina Walker, 32, was arrested quickly and without incident, WDBJ reported, but Chase Thomas Fielder, 32, could not immediately be located.
At about 8 p.m., the Henry County Sheriff’s Office received information that Fielder was at a residence in Collinsville, but when they arrived, he slammed the door on them and began barricading with everything movable inside.
Deputies immediately activated the SWAT team while trying unsuccessfully to negotiate Fielder’s surrender. The SWAT team deployed “chemical munitions” inside the home, but Fielder still did not come on.
The sheriff’s office said Fielder used beds, mattresses, couches, a washing machine, and dryer to block the front and back doors of the home before the SWAT team used an armored vehicle to breach the home. When Fielder continued to resist arrest, more “chemical munitions” were deployed before he was finally taken into custody.
In addition to the child abuse charges, Fielder was also charged with obstruction of justice.
The sheriff’s office did not provide any details about the child abuse charges or the child’s condition or current location, but Sheriff Wayne Davis released a statement decrying “the abuse of an innocent child [as] one of hte most disturbing and unacceptable crimes we face.”
Walker is being held on a $4,000 bond, while Fielder was being held without bond.
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[Featured image: Nikki Walker and Chase Fielder/Henry County Sheriff’s Office]
