Police officers move in on a man involved in a six-hour standoff Friday morning on I-94 just west of the Marquette Interchange. Credit: Gary Porter

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The nearly six-hour standoff that paralyzed a vital stretch of Milwaukee County's freeway system during Friday morning's rush hour started innocently enough, with a man and woman telling a sheriff's deputy their SUV had run out of gas. It ended with a robot smashing through one of the stolen SUV's windows, allowing SWAT officers to deploy tear gas inside the vehicle and arrest the man and woman at gunpoint after they scrambled out of the SUV to the pavement.

Although the incident prompted authorities to close both directions of I-94 for hours, Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. said his department's deliberate approach had the desired effect - the two people inside the SUV were arrested without anyone being injured.

"We do not rush life or death situations," Clarke said at a news conference Friday afternoon.

The incident began about 4 a.m., when a sheriff's deputy pulled up behind the Mercury SUV as it traveled on the right shoulder of westbound I-94 near N. 19th St. with its hazard lights flashing, Clarke said.

The SUV's driver, 42, and his 35-year-old girlfriend got out and told the deputy the SUV was out of gas.

The deputy told the two to get back in the SUV, but a check of the vehicle's registration showed it was stolen. Other deputies were sent to the scene, but the man and woman refused to follow the deputies' orders to get out of the SUV.

At one point the driver flashed a gun's magazine and threatened to shoot at deputies, Clarke said. He also tried to start the SUV, the sheriff said. A gun magazine holds ammunition.

"Once this individual showed the magazine from the firearm, that really kicked it up," Clarke said, calling a potential firefight on the freeway the worst possible outcome. "We have to take our time."

Westbound I-94 was closed a short time later, snarling early morning traffic heading west from the Marquette Interchange. The backup cleared only after hundreds of cars that were stuck behind the standoff turned around on I-94 and headed east in the westbound lanes.

For the first three hours of the standoff, the SUV was on the shoulder of the westbound lanes with rush hour traffic heading toward downtown just three lanes away on the eastbound side of the freeway. Sheriff's officials then closed eastbound I-94 about 7:45 a.m.

Deputies were not sure whether any other people were in the SUV because they could not see through the vehicle's heavily tinted windows in the pre-dawn darkness, Clarke said.

With the driver and passenger still refusing to leave the vehicle, two armored SWAT trucks were parked in front of and behind the vehicle, blocking the people from trying to drive away.

SWAT officers took cover behind the armored truck parked behind the SUV as another officer used a bullhorn to try to coax the people out of the vehicle. Deputies did not know at first whether the woman was a hostage or was voluntarily staying inside the SUV, Clarke said.

Deputies eventually steered a remote-controlled robot to the driver's side of the SUV in an attempt to give the driver a phone so he could speak with negotiators. He refused to take the phone, but the robot's microphones and video camera allowed a negotiator to speak with the man and woman, Clarke said.

The pair told the negotiator they were the only people inside the vehicle, and the woman said she was not a hostage and was not going to leave the SUV, Clarke said. Once deputies were able to confirm with the robot's cameras that there was no one else inside, officials decided to force the people out, Clarke said.

"I'm not going to introduce tear gas and start firing shots or storming vehicles without knowing for sure that there aren't any unintended people" inside, he said.

The robot retreated from the SUV, then approached on the passenger side and began ramming the rear side window about 10 a.m. After a few attempts, the window broke and a SWAT officer used a long pole to thrust a tear gas canister inside the SUV.

Within moments, tear gas billowed from the SUV and the man in the driver's seat opened his door.

SWAT officers trained their guns on the man and woman and yelled at them to crawl away from the SUV while keeping their hands in view. Police dogs strained on their leashes about 30 feet away, barking and standing on their hind legs.

Both the man and woman, who also left the SUV through the driver's door, were arrested at gunpoint.

Eastbound lanes were reopened to traffic a few minutes later. The interstate's westbound lanes were opened after investigators finished processing the scene. The standoff itself lasted five hours and 44 minutes, Clarke said.

Clarke thanked commuters who were caught in traffic jams for their patience and cooperation and said the SWAT officers had to move slowly to keep everyone safe.

"I don't want people unnecessarily hurt or killed, so we're going to take all the time we need, reasonably," Clarke said. "I wasn't going to let this go on for days. I can't say how long (it could have lasted)."

The man and woman were evaluated by paramedics after they were arrested. Clarke did not release their names or say where they live, but he said the man has 18 adult arrests in Illinois and Wisconsin and was released from prison in April. He is on parole for robbery with threat of force, sheriff's Capt. Aisha Barkow said.

The woman did not have a criminal record, Clarke said.

The SUV the man was driving was reported stolen Tuesday near S. 24th St. and W. National Ave., Clarke said. The SUV's owner was in Illinois on Friday, and Clarke said the theft of the vehicle is under investigation.

Clarke said neither person had a gun, and deputies did not find a gun inside the SUV, only the magazine. Clarke declined to say whether either person appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol or whether drugs were found in the SUV.

Some motorists were able to exit the freeway system before becoming stuck in the massive traffic jams, but thousands of others weren't as fortunate.

Mark Gauger lives in Milwaukee and rises every morning at 4:35 to commute to his job in Waukesha. He came upon the standoff less than an hour after it started, then drove in reverse down an exit ramp and took I-43 south to I-894.

Gauger said in an e-mail to JSOnline that he was caught in traffic for about five minutes before deciding to reverse course.

"When I was heading through the interchange southbound, I looked back to see if there was any visual indication of why the traffic was at a dead-stop," he said. "I could see that the police had barricaded all of the lanes and I knew right then that I had been very lucky to have made the decision that I had."

Adrian Robar, a material handler at a Waukesha foundry, wasn't so lucky. He said he spent about 2½ hours stuck on the interstate.

Robar, 37, left his Bay View home, drove over the Hoan Bridge and was driving west on I-94 for a 5 a.m. shift when he ran into the law enforcement blockade about 4:15 a.m., he said.

"There was a wall of lights and police cars," he said.

He learned about the standoff about 45 minutes later while listening to the radio. He said he was stuck until 6:45 or 7 a.m., when officers allowed vehicles to turn around and head east in the westbound lanes.

Robar finally got to work about 8 a.m. after taking I-894. He said he won't be paid for the hours he missed.

"Everyone seemed pretty calm about everything," he said, referring to the other drivers caught in the backup. He added that he was carrying a case of water in the back of his SUV, and that he offered it to the other drivers. He had a couple of takers, he said.

Tom Tolan of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.