STERLING HEIGHTS (WWJ) -- A man was arrested Friday after pulling a hatchet at a hamburger restaurant in Sterling Heights.
According to Sterling Heights Police, officers responded to the Fuddruckers on the corner of 18 Mile Rd. and Van Dyke at around 12:15 p.m., on reports that a man was causing a disturbance inside the restaurant.
Lt. Mario Bastianelli told WWJ Newsradio 950's Luke Sloan that the man in question was asked to leave Fuddruckers, and when he refused, employees called 9-1-1.
When police arrived, they encountered the man as he came out armed with what Bastianelli described as a "hatchet type ax weapon."
"The officers gave him multiple instructions to drop the weapon, and he refused to do so," Bastianelli said. "After kind of a little bit of a standoff, the officers used a less lethal weapon, basically to disarm him and to get him into custody."
"In the midst of doing that he made multiple homicidal, suicidal statements to our officers, and he clearly was suffering from mental illness," Bastianelli said.
Following his arrest, the man was taken to a hospital for an evaluation.
Bastianelli said it's fortunate that no one was seriously hurt.
"I just want to say that situations like this can certainly quickly spin out of control. I have to absolutely commend our officers for an absolutely great job they did," Bastianelli said. "You know, these are very difficult situations to deal with, and our officers did an outstanding job in getting the situation under control safely, and ultimately getting the subject help; much needed help that he needed."
The employee who answered the phone at Fuddruckers declined to comment to WWJ about the incident.