“ACK” ISLAND STYLE, YO: Nantucket standoff ends as Barnstable K9 unit makes “first contact…”
HYANNIS – [HN NOTES] – Nantucket police had a problem. A man wanted for a restraining order violation had just locked himself inside his home and wasn’t coming out. Not even for “pretty please with sugar on top.” And as it turns out, things became messier when island cops reportedly learned the dude was armed with not one, but two knives – and possibly a third within reach.
The wanted guy apparently enjoyed having his cutlery handy.
Obviously wanting a safe conclusion, Nantucket police officers considered extra help and began entertaining various cop moves and machinations, including one involving a reliable, highly trained four-legged fury creature with nice big shiny teeth. But alas, such hopes were nearly dashed, as the nearest available creature with those attributes was way across the water at that time, on the other side of Nantucket Sound, likely cruising Hytown in some tricked-out, rhino-barred, strobe-lugging, souped-up dog kennel on wheels, complete with personalized handler compartment, Ray Allen stickers and accoutrements, naturally.
THIS all unfolded this past Monday – 8/9/2021 at around 2:12 p.m. – and as the impasse wore on, officers decided it time to hop on the horn and call in additional heavies.
Nantucket cops were in the throes of a good old fashioned cutlery involved standoff, “ACK” island style, yo. Officer safety was paramount.
Meanwhile, in Hyannis, Barnstable Policeman Nolan O’Melia and his shiny-toothed K9 partner Alex fit the bill, and as luck would have it, they happened to be both ‘good to go,’ and ‘ready to launch!’
‘Roger that,’ likely thought O’Melia, ‘Hyline Fast Ferry, stand by and prepare to be boarded! The old prowling of cracked, maintenance deferred (albeit familiar) mean Hytown backstreets be dammed! Onward to 19th century cobblestoned, occasionally only slightly miffed streets. Here we come! Land ho! Thar she blows! And all that ancient nautical palaver – word up, we’re taking a boat ride!’
The trip lasted about an hour and it’s safe to say Patrolman O’Melia and K9 Alex had little time lounging topside with umbrella drinks, they had embarked on a serious mission, toward a relatively unfamiliar island 29.1 miles southwest of Hytown – an island that once harbored dead-eyed harpooners and the occasional fully tattooed cannibal from the South Seas (according to Melville). This wasn’t the Love Boat. This was a potential sail into the whale-stained bowels of seaside hell!
But I digress…
According to the Nantucket P.D. media statement, they arrived at the Polpis Road address, a grassy property east of downtown, well off the beat and cobble. Their intention was to serve a warrant for the alleged violation of a restraining order, instead they found themselves at odds with their suspect, Jeffrey A. Frable, age 64, of the grassy Nantucket address. You see, they wanted Frable to cooperate. Instead, he reportedly locked himself inside his home, with the aforementioned cutlery.
At around 6:00 p.m., about 3 hours after the initial officers arrived, the Nantucket Police Department SWAT Team, Barnstable Police Department K9 Unit, and Massachusetts State Police reportedly arrested Frable and charged him with Violation of an Active Restraining Order.
The NPD media statement also mentions that the Barnstable Police Department K9 Unit made “first contact,” which is a nice way of saying the suspect was bitten, allegedly for not complying right up until the end of the 3 hour ordeal. Frable was then transported by a Nantucket FD ambulance to Nantucket Cottage Hospital to be patched up after the “first contact” with those big shiny teeth.
No word on whether Ptl. O’Melia and K9 Alex had time for umbrella drinks on the ferry back…
* All suspects are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
P.S. – Today’s Hytown Vignette is a brought to you by Paul & Linda McCartney… [CLICK IT/CRANK IT!]
“But the kettle’s on the boil and we’re so easily called away…”
