A man wielding a metal bar and raving about children being zombies terrified a San Rafael woman Saturday morning before fleeing from police, climbing a tree to evade arrest and sitting out of the reach of officers for eight hours until they could finally coax him down.

Police said Rich Bocknowski, 42, of no known address, was booked into Marin County Jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, and resisting and evading arrest.

“We’re still sorting it out,” said San Rafael Police Sgt. Carl Huber. “It’s been a long day.”

A woman whose children were at home playing video games on Saturday at about 10:30 a.m. said the man was standing outside her apartment on Marin Center Drive, yelling that it was Dec. 15, 1988, and urging her to send her children outside.

When officers arrived at about 10:30 a.m., Bocknowski refused to drop the piece of rebar he was holding and ran up a hill to the Unitarian Church on Channing Way.

Huber said officers shot him with a bean bag gun after he threatened one of them with the bar he was carrying, but he managed to climb 25 feet up into a tree near the church, where he remained throughout the day.

At one point, Huber said, he threw a shoe at one of the officers. They were finally able to convince him to climb down at about 6 p.m.

“He was saying all sorts of stuff that didn’t make sense,” Huber said. “He is being taken to jail for his charges but he will be evaluated for whatever ails him mentally.” —— (c)2014 The Marin Independent Journal (Novato, Calif.) Visit The Marin Independent Journal (Novato, Calif.) at www.marinij.com