By Jonathan L'Ecuyer
Staff writer
May 05, 2008 10:57 pm ROCKPORT — A local man faces multiple charges in the wake of a standoff on Sunday in which he threw hammers at police officers and they tried to flush him out of the house with tear gas — only to find that he had a gas mask to fight off the effects. The two-hour standoff ended peacefully after police finally forced their way into the home. David M. Ouellette, 48, of 8 Charles St., was arrested shortly after 5:30 p.m. Sunday on more than a dozen charges including domestic assault and battery, eight charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery on a police officer, two charges of making a false bomb threat and resisting arrest. Ouellette — who had threatened to detonate a bomb, though none was ever found — was held in the Rockport police station on $15,000 cash bail Sunday night and appeared in Gloucester District Court yesterday. Judge Joseph Jennings ordered Ouellette to reappear in court May 23. There was no bail set and Ouellette was not released, but court records yesterday did not indicate where Ouellette was being held. According to police, Ouellette — who lives in a basement apartment in the home he shares with his sister — cut power to his sister's part of the house. When his sister confronted him, he pushed her out of the apartment. At that point, the sister called police. The standoff began shortly before 4 p.m. after Officer Michael Marino responded to the woman's complaint that Ouellette had pushed her. When Marino arrived at the home — located among other single-family homes on Charles Street, between High Street Court and Marshall Street — he tried to get Ouellette to calm down and come out of the house, but Ouellette refused. Ouellette — who is not a stranger to police, Chief Thomas McCarthy said — threatened to shoot anyone who dared come through the door. Moments later, he also threatened to detonate a makeshift bomb. It was soon discovered that Ouellette had barricaded himself inside the apartment by stacking packages of concrete mix in front of the windows and blocking doors with furniture. Marino soon called McCarthy and Sgt. Mark Schmink — a trained hostage negotiator — for backup. Before the standoff was resolved, nearly a half-dozen Rockport officers and another half-dozen officers from the Cape Ann Regional Response Team responded to the scene. McCarthy said Schmink spent a "significant amount of time" trying to communicate with Ouellette, who was yelling and screaming throughout the entire ordeal. Nearly an hour after the standoff began, police attempted to force Ouellette to leave by shooting tear gas through the windows, police said. McCarthy said officers were perplexed as to why the gas failed to have any effect on Ouellette until they realized the man was wearing a functional, World War II-era gas mask. Fortunately, McCarthy said, police had gas masks in their cruisers too, which allowed them to enter the home and subdue Ouellette without injury at 5:41 p.m. "Everyone got out safely," McCarthy said yesterday. "No shots were fired and nobody was injured. I'm very happy with the outcome. The officers and tactical team did a wonderful job and were very professional. It was handled professionally from start to finish." Upon searching Ouellette's house, police were unable to find any explosives or firearms. According to police, Ouellette did not appear to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs during the standoff. The sister, who obtained a restraining order against Ouellete, was evacuated during the incident. Ouellette faces a charge of domestic assault and battery for pushing his sister; eight charges of assault with a dangerous weapon stemming from when Ouellette threw "hammers" and "other items" through the window toward police officers; assault and battery on a police officer, stemming from squirting an officer with water from a hose; and a trio of charges for uttering false bomb threats and resisting arrest. Ouellette last made news in 2006 by actually helping local law enforcement officials — he aided them in their search for a missing Rockport Elementary School student. After hearing reports of the missing boy on his police scanner, Oullette went on a walk with his dogs to find him. Ouellette was credited with discovering the missing 11-year-old fifth-grader alive and well in the woods nearby his home. Jonathan L'Ecuyer can be reached at jlecuyer@gloucestertimes.com.
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