Greer man hit girlfriend, held her captive for 3 hours before standoff, police say

Daniel J. Gross | The Greenville News

Show Caption Hide Caption Police standoff in Greer A police standoff ended peacefully in Greer after six hours of negotiations. A man was arrested on domestic violence, kidnapping and child neglect charges.

A standoff of roughly six hours in a quiet subdivision in Greer ended after police arrested a man they said struck his girlfriend and held her captive for three and a half hours.

Greer police took a man into custody at a home on Cotter Lane after he refused to surrender when officers showed up there to serve felony domestic violence-related warrants early Thursday.

The man was apprehended from inside the home before 8 a.m., ending a situation that began around 1:45 a.m. Thursday.

Christopher Melvin Chamberlain, 24, of Cotter Lane, was arrested on charges of criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature, kidnapping, and unlawful neglect of a child, according to arrest warrants.

Police obtained those warrants within the past 24 hours after the girlfriend escaped Chamberlain and called authorities while fleeing, said Lt. Patrick Fortenberry, a spokesman for the Greer Police Department.

Officers used crisis negotiators, an emergency response team, a robot and deployed gas inside the home in an attempt to get Chamberlain to come out. After those attempts failed, a team of officers went inside to take him into custody, Fortenberry said.

Several windows of the house were busted out, showing where officers deployed gas. After his arrest, smoke still lingered outside the home. Firefighters arrived on scene to fumigate.

"It irritates the respiratory functions, so it inhibits your breathing a little bit and makes you want to get out," Fortenberry said.

Those in the emergency response team wore gas masks when they entered the home, he said.

Officers found Chamberlain hiding inside a closet. No one was hurt when he was taken into custody, police said. It was unclear whether he had any firearms with him.

There had been no other law enforcement calls to the residence since Chamberlain had been living there.

Officers first went to the home around 1:45 a.m. and saw him inside, but he refused to come to the door and retreated farther back into the home.

"We had information there were firearms located inside the residence. To create the best safety for our officers, we activated our emergency response team," Fortenberry said. "We're happy that this incident was peacefully resolved."

The man's girlfriend, who held a small child they share in common, was on scene to help police officers with negotiations, Fortenberry said.

An incident report states Chamberlain punched the girlfriend in the eye on Aug. 7. The report states the two had lived together for about two months before things turned violent.

The argument is believed to have stemmed from the woman doing a video chat with Chamberlain's mother without his permission, the report states. The woman tried to escape several times before Chamberlain locked her into a room for about three and a half hours, the report states.

Several homes near the house were evacuated out of an abundance of caution during the standoff, he said.

Fortenberry said the Police Department is thankful for the residents' cooperation so early in the morning.

Cotter Lane is a small road within the Hammett Crossing neighborhood near Riverside High School. Manicured lawns, some basketball hoops and lamp posts line the street. Neighbors there said criminal activity is rare.

Several neighbors came out of their houses to see the scene unfold.

Sandra Mansel, a nearby neighbor, has lived in the neighborhood for 13 years and said it's a sought-after neighborhood in the Greer area.

She said she just saw the man outside Wednesday and never suspected there was a problem.

"It's a rental house. He was quiet. He was just cutting his grass yesterday," she said. "When anybody moves into the neighborhood, we try to get a sense of what type of people they are. You never know."

Parked outside the man's garage was a dark BMW with a Virginia license plate.

The Greenville County Sheriff's Office assisted with the situation.