Published: May 13, 2008 12:59 am            

TONAWANDAS: Standoff on I-190

An almost three hour standoff on the I-190 ended with a bang Monday as a Buffalo SWAT team detonated a flash grenade and pulled an armed 66-year-old Florida man from his truck.

James Gilchriese, a Vietnam veteran from Florida and a former Western New York native, was not hurt and was taken to ECMC for a psychiatric evaluation. Gilchriese is scheduled to be arraigned in Buffalo City court this morning if he’s released from the hospital.

Buffalo Police Spokesman Michael DeGeorge said the entire ordeal appears to have started as a domestic conflict.

A caller to WIVB television, Tom Snyder, said he called authorities after seeing a man beating a woman inside the truck parked off the interstate in Grand Island, minutes before the standoff began.

Shortly after 6 p.m., police stopped the vehicle in the southbound lane of the I-190, at which point Gilchriese pulled out a gun. Police closed lanes in both directions quickly, bringing traffic to a standstill in both directions from Niagara Street to the Scajaquada Expressway. Stranded drivers stood in the road and watched events unfold until police could back cars out one at a time.

Patricia Meckley, Gilchriese’s 50-year-old girlfriend, was removed from the car half an hour after the standoff began and rushed away from the scene. Afterwards, Gilchriese wandered from his vehicle into the street, holding his gun to his head and neck while talking on his cell phone and pacing.

Nearby residents crowded onto the sides of the road, huddling together to get a view of the scene and heckling both police and Gilchriese. Some even brought their children, which confused some bystanders like Robin Gowecki.

“I think it’s terrible to see people bringing their kids,” Gowecki said. “What happens when someone gets shot?”

Still more onlookers stared at the ordeal from boats in the Niagara River, forcing the Coast Guard to chase them away from the scene. Buffalo Police SWAT Capt. Mark Maraschiello said the open area gave Gilchriese a line of sight that was all over, making it difficult to control the crowd and cover all of his avenues of escape.

“I don’t think they wrote a text book for this one,” Maraschiello said. “It had a lot of elements that you don’t see everyday.”

As the scene dragged on, spectators began shouting more and looking for action. Travis Williams said he was curious about the constant police movements.

“They’ve just been going up and back, up and back,” Williams said. “I was wondering when they were going to do something.”

As the sun began to go down, police made their move on the vehicle. Just after 8:45 p.m., the SWAT team surrounded Gilchriese’s truck and detonated a stun grenade. Immediately after the device went off, police dragged Gilchriese from the truck, took him to the ground and placed him in custody. He was taken to an awaiting ambulance under police supervision.

State Police Capt. Michael Nigrelli said he was satisfied with the outcome of the standoff on many levels.

“No one got hurt. This subject walked away. Our law enforcers walked away,” Nigrelli said. “Yeah, we inconvenienced traffic on the south and northbound 190 for a few hours, but you know what? It’s a small price to pay to save someone’s life.”

Contact reporter Daniel Pyeat 693-1000, ext. 158.

The Associated Press and 7 News contributed to this report.

        

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