The Putnam County Sheriff is speaking out about a recent incident in which a 28-year old man barricaded himself in a Carmel home for 7 hours on Saturday.  Sheriff Robert Langley commented on the role that social media played in escalating the situation and creating additional stressors.  He says people with no connection to the individual engaged with him via social media, countering the work of our negotiators to calm him, bring him out safely. 

Those online also created a secondary crisis situation.

Calls of protest based on misinformation were received non-stop for hours on the non-emergency lines for the Carmel Police Department and the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department.  Some calls were in fact emergencies and needed to be forwarded from 911 dispatch.  Langley says public safety was compromised when precious moments were lost by individuals seeking to grandstand and interfere in a crisis and law enforcement’s response to it. 

Langley condemn the actions taken on social media since this incident and ask the public to consider what he called the dangerous potential impacts of such interference. Everyone has a right to opinion and free speech, but Langley says no one has the right to  hamper a police response and public safety.

Langley thanked the Putnam County Firearm Owners Association for their support of Law Enforcement and assistance in helping to defuse a serious situation.