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Suicidal man threatens self, police behind Cherry Chase Safeway store

In a flurry of distracting sound bombs, Sunnyvale's SWAT team stopped a deranged man from cutting his own throat behind a grocery store early Friday morning.

The man, who was not identified by police, held 10 officers at bay outside the Safeway store at El Camino Real and Knickerbocker Drive for an hour and a half starting just after 7 a.m., according to Capt. Steve Pigott of the Sunnyvale Public Safety Department.

Pigott said the man, in his late 30s, repeatedly screamed, "Shoot me, shoot me," to police. The man also verbally threatened to kill a police officer while holding the hunting knife with a 6-inch blade to his own neck, Pigott said.

The man, who was dressed in a long-sleeved buttoned shirt, lunged at police several times and flailed his arms maniacally, according to witnesses.

The police formed a semi-circle around him and backed him up against an emergency exit door leading to the grocery store.

Police stood with their guns drawn about 50 feet away from the man. A police negotiator was on the scene.

Dick Jennings, owner of a nearby travel agency in the shopping plaza, witnessed the police action from the inside of the Safeway store while standing in the produce section.

"I could see five [SWAT] guys perched behind the door as some radio conversation went on," Jennings said.

With the suspect's back to the door outside, police shot him twice with plastic bullets, Pigott said, and then set off three concussion grenades.

"It sounded like a muffled boom--pop, pop, pop," Jennings said.

In the confusion, the SWAT team members burst through the door and tackled the man from behind, Pigott said, causing him to drop his knife.

The man was taken to the hospital and sent for a psychiatric evaluation.

Pigott said the man had been released from Valley Medical Center one day earlier for taking similar actions against police officers in Mountain View.

Voters will decide how cops/council will solve disputes

The public will decide on Nov. 3 how the Sunnyvale City Council and its public safety officers will settle their disputes now that the Registrar of Voters verified a bundle of signatures the officers submitted in May.

The officers needed to collect 9,000 signatures in order to put the issue on the ballot, according to Kelly Fitzgerald, the Public Safety Officers Association president. The officers collected an estimated 12,300 signatures, the registrar determined.

The officers asked the City Council to allow them to settle their grievances through binding arbitration, a process that mandates that the council follow the recommendation of an outside arbitrator should one be called in to settle a contract dispute. The council refused, forcing the officers to ask the voters to decide on the process.

Currently the officers settle contract disputes through advisory arbitration, in which the council can choose whether to follow an arbitrator's recommendation.

With binding arbitration, the council may have to give up the authority to set officers' salaries, a system Sunnyvale Mayor Jim Roberts called "undemocratic."

The officers' contract expired on July 1, 1997. They are currently working under the provisions of the old contract. The officers have been unwilling to settle the contract until the question of how to solve grievances is answered. "This is the sticking point for the contract," Fitzgerald explained. "We're looking for a system that is a little more fair than the current system."

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, July 1, 1998.
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