CT man arrested following hours-long standoff with SWAT team

A man was arrested in Stamford over the weekend following a standoff with police that lasted nearly eight hours and prompted a response from the area SWAT team.

Police officers on Saturday at 7:38 a.m. responded to the report of a disturbance at a home in the 3100 block of High Ridge Road where they were confronted by a man, later identified as 36-year-old Stephan Gale, who was “engaging in threatening behavior,” according to Capt. Chris Baker of the Stamford Police Department.

Gale was lighting things on fire within the residence, but it did not rise to the level of the fire department needing to extinguish anything, Baker said. The police department’s Hostage Negotiating Team and the Southwest Regional Emergency Response Team were called to the scene, where authorities worked for about seven and a half hours to take Gale into custody, according to Baker. High Ridge Road was closed during the entirety of the incident.

Gale was charged with first-degree reckless endangerment, reckless burning, second-degree threatening and disorderly conduct. He was held on $25,000 bond and was expected to be arraigned in Stamford Superior Court on Monday.