Jordon Towers, 25, charged after 'psychotic episode' on rooftop at Mayfield
Jordon Towers, 25, has been charged after spending hours on the rooftop of a unit block on Maitland road, Mayfield West, as specialist police teams were called in to negotiate.
Newcastle
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Family members of a man found yelling and shouting from a rooftop in Mayfield West early Friday morning said he was going through a “psychotic episode”.
Jordon Towers, 25, has been charged after he spent more than eight hours on the rooftop of a unit block on Maitland Rd — as specialist police teams were called in.
Resident Frank Matzanke was woken at 2am by their dog, which was barking loudly as the incident unfolded.
“The dog was barking quite loudly and woke us up,” he said.
“Then I noticed voices shouting and carrying on before and it quietened down for a while.
“When I woke up at 5.30am and walked down the street to get the paper this morning, there were police cars everywhere and there was this fella sitting up on the roof.
“It’s not a normal thing to do to climb up on the roof in the middle of the night.”
Mr Towers’ Cousin, Theresa Dargin, came straight to the scene when she heard about what had happened.
“My grandmother just got a phone call and she only just lives down the road,” Ms Dargin said.
“She wanted to go in and check if he was ok and she wasn’t allowed to do that. My uncle also wanted to go and check if he could get him down off the roof.
“That was a very stressful moment for my grandmother being 82 years old.”
Ms Dargin said it had been a hard few months for their family and hopes her cousin will get the help he needs.
“We already had enough passings and deaths within our family in the last couple of months, we have had three passings,” she said.
“Being Aboriginal we get a bit worried about deaths in custody.
“We hope he is in safe hands, we didn’t get to see him before he left.”
More than 20 police officers were on-hand for the operation, which started just before 1am, and included paramedics, police rescue crews, tactical response and the dog unit.
Newcastle police Superintendent Brett Greentree said when police tried to coax him down, he refused.
“Specialist police were notified and called from our tactical operations unit, and negotiators from specialist command,” Mr Greentree said.
“A crime scene was established and a command post set up while negotiations took place.”
A number of residents say the man yelled constantly as he walked along the rooftop.
Anne Hardwick who lives nearby was alerted by her friend to the drama which unfolded nearby.
“He’s attempted to walk across the crest of the roof,” she said.
“He has almost fallen on a couple of occasions.”
Ms Hardwick said the man appeared to be in “a lot of distress”.
Shortly after 9.30am, the 25-year-old surrendered to police and he was taken into custody.
He was taken to hospital for assessment, before police charged him with use offensive weapon to prevent lawful detention, malicious damage, wilful and obscene exposure, intimidation, resist arrest, and breach bail.
Superintendent Greentree said mental health will be explored throughout the investigation. He’s just glad there was a peaceful resolution.
“Nobody was injured,” he said.
“These are very risky incidents and anything is possible and I am grateful for the police involved and the suspect was not injured, it was a successful resolution.”
If you need help, call Lifeline 13 11 14.