Update: Tear gas ends standoff in southwest Ceres mobile home park

Ceres police used tear gas Wednesday to end a three-hour standoff with a suspect in a mobile home park.

It started at about 10:30 a.m. at Colony Park, at the northwest corner of Central Avenue and Service Road in southwest Ceres.

A woman called the Ceres Police Department to report that her sister, a park resident, had left a voice mail with “what sounds like a fight in the background,” Sgt. Greg Yotsuya said.

Officers went to the home, near the south edge of Colony Park, but no one answered, he said.

They learned that the man — Ryan Anthony Dixon, 36, of Ceres — was the boyfriend of the woman and had three felony warrants for previous crimes, the sergeant said. They were for false imprisonment, obstruction of justice, and contempt of court. The woman had a restraining order against Dixon, he said.

The department’s SWAT unit and Crisis Negotiation Team were activated. Two nearby campuses — Central Valley High School and Walt Hanline Elementary School — went into lockdown. The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department also responded.

While officers were setting up a perimeter, Yotsuya said, Dixon tried to climb out a window. He said the woman also appeared at the window but was pulled away by the man.

“She doesn’t appear injured but appears under duress,” Yotsuya said.

Officers used a PA system to try to talk to both of them and also tried to set up a phone connection. The SWAT unit made verbal contact with Dixon and the woman through an open window shortly after 1 p.m., police said, and she was removed safely.

Dixon continued to refuse to come out, Yotsuya said, so officers deployed tear gas. He emerged several minutes later and was arrested, then hosed down while handcuffed to remove traces of the chemical.

Dixon was examined by paramedics at the scene, then taken to a local hospital for medical clearance before being booked into the Stanislaus County Jail.

He remained there as of Wednesday afternoon on $90,000 bail. He faces charges of violating a restraining order, resisting arrest, obstruction of justice, false imprisonment and failure to appear for an earlier case.

This story was originally published May 29, 2019 at 3:29 PM.