Middletown City (Orange)barricaded Subject 06-03-08

[ace84 100]

Date: 06-03-08

Time:First 911 call at 1300hrs

Location: 46 Wawayanda Ave

Frequency:

Units Operating: City of Middletown Police Patrolmen & Middletown’s Police Tactical Response Unit , Orange Co. Sheriffs Office, New York State Police

Description Of Incident:City Police received a tip that a man had barricaded himself inside of 46 Wawayanda Ave

Writer: ace84

MIDDLETOWN — City Police & Orange County Sheriff Deputies are searching for a felon they say assaulted a woman Tuesday afternoon, barricaded himself inside a Wawayanda Avenue house and then fled.

Police are looking for Jose Rodriguez, 42, who lives at 46 Wawayanda Ave. Middletown police Chief Matthew Byrne said Rodriguez was last seen on Orange Terrace around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, heading south. Police consider him armed and dangerous.

It began just after 1 p.m., when police got several 911 calls reporting a partially clothed woman in the street screaming for help. Middletown police Officer Jeffrey Thoelen was the first to arrive. Byrne said the woman told Thoelen that Rodriguez had assaulted her and threatened her with a knife. She also told Thoelen that Rodriguez had several firearms.

Thoelen escorted the woman to safety and immediately called for backup. Police surrounded the tan, two-family house at 46 Wawayanda Ave., believing Rodriguez was holed up inside. Members of the tactical response unit tried to communicate with Rodriguez, but there was no response.

Finally, around 4 p.m., police broke down the front door with a battering ram and went inside. The house was empty.

The victim, who police said was a 35-year-old Middletown resident, was taken to the Horton campus of Orange Regional Center with facial injuries. Byrne said police are also trying to determine if she was sexually assaulted.

City Police described Rodriguez as 5-foot-10, slim, with scratches on his face and possibly a goatee. He was seen wearing a yellow T-shirt, blue-jean shorts and a red baseball cap with an "NY" logo.

With Rodriguez last seen on Orange Terrace, on the city's western edge, Town of Wallkill and state police are assisting in the search, Byrne said.

Rodriguez served time in state prison for a weapons conviction before being paroled in 2004, according to state records. His parole expired in 2005. Byrne said Rodriguez had 30 previous arrests, including nine for felonies.

Just one day earlier, the saga of a police standoff at another address on Wawayanda Avenue ended when an Orange County court sentenced Raymond Zayas to 40 years in prison for shooting at Middletown cops and wounding Officer Christopher Dolan in July 2007.

Edited June 4, 2008 by ace84