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Atwater standoff ends with arrest for assault: Man surrenders after holing up in home

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Dave O'Brien
September 2, 2010

By Dave O’Brien | Staff Writer
A 45-minute standoff early Wednesday morning on Porter Road in Atwater between a suspect in a serious assault and Portage County sheriff’s deputies ended peacefully with the suspect’s arrest, Sheriff David Doak said.
Doak said his office’s responded to a request for assistance from the the Ohio Highway Patrol shortly before 4 a.m. when a 68-year-old female resident was found walking along S.R. 14 in Edinburg just south of Tallmadge Road.
Mary Roulett, of Porter Road in Atwater, had facial injuries that apparently were the result of a domestic violence incident, Doak said. Deputies interviewed Roulett and she was transported to Robinson Memorial Hospital in Ravenna to be treated for her injuries, he said.
Deputies then traveled to her address at 2374 Porter Road in an attempt to make contact with Roulett’s husband, 59-year-old Bruce A. Markell.
Markell, who was home, refused numerous requests to come out of the residence. As deputies tried to persuade him to exit the house, Markell fired a gun inside the residence, Doak said.
After a 45-minute-standoff, Markell surrendered without incident. He was arrested and charged with felonious assault, a second-degree felony, and incarcerated in the Portage County jail pending arraignment on the charges.
Doak said the situation was a tense one.
“When someone has firearms, that’s always something you want to be careful about when you approach him,” he said.
According to court records, Markell was due in Portage County Municipal Judge Barbara Oswick’s courtroom in Ravenna at 1:15 p.m. today  for a pretrial hearing on misdemeanor charges of operating a vehicle under the influence and improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle for a July 20 incident in which he was stopped for alleged drunken driving by a sheriff’s deputy.
Markell pleaded not guilty July 22 to those charges. At the time of Wednesday’s incident, he was free on $350 bond on the condition he not consume alcohol or drive a vehicle until eligible, according to court records.
It is the second time sheriff’s deputies have engaged in a standoff with an armed suspect on Porter Road this year.
On May 4, deputies and the Metro SWAT team surrounded a house at 90 Porter Road after the resident, 54-year-old Larry Bozek, shot his wife Melinda six times during a domestic disturbance. Larry Bozek surrended to police after a nine-hour standoff.
Melinda Bozek survived her injuries. Larry Bozek pleaded guilty Aug. 13 to attempted murder charges and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.




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 3 Total Comments
3.
    Posted by my57chevy2door1 September 2, 2010
Boy he must have gotten really mad when he tried to take credit for something he didnt do so he beat the other person up who did deserve the credit that wouldnt let him take the credit . then to top it off got involved in a stand off.. typical atwater townspeople

2.
    Posted by Jackson1 September 2, 2010
"When someone has firearms, that's always something you want to be careful about when you approach him," Gee, Ya think?

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