Rooftop standoff between police and wanted man

A wanted man caused a rooftop standoff with police today after he ran from officers who were attempting to arrest him.

When police originally went to arrest the suspect, he ran from the officers and climbed to the roof of a building in Chalkwell Avenue.

The man had managed to lock himself on the roof and a police standoff began, with roads around the property closed off to the public as the man was seen hanging from the top of the building.

Emergency services were dispatched to the scene including an ambulance command unit, two fire crews and additional police officers.

A police negotiator was called and spent around an hour trying to talk the man down from the roof of an adjacent building.

The man was eventually brought down after around two hours and the other emergency services were stood down.

Essex Police then confirmed it had arrested 25-year-old Samuel Walker, a resident in Chalkwell Avenue where the standoff took place.

The warrant for his arrest had been issued after the man failed to surrender to custody at Grays Police station whilst on bail. He has now been charged with assault and possession of cannabis as well as failing to surrender to police custody.

Many locals felt the rooftop standoff was a waste of emergency services resources. Paul Pinder, said: “This man’s behaviour is selfish and wasted a lot of tax payers money while he was attention seeking on the roof.”