GRAND FORKS, ND (trfnews.i234.me) – A man wanted by the FBI is now in police custody following a dramatic seven-hour standoff in Grand Forks. Thirty-two-year-old Collin Posey was apprehended around 11:30 PM on Monday, July 22.
Eyewitness Account
“It progressed rather quickly,” said Josh Rauanheimo, a bystander who watched the entire incident. “It’s been insane, almost like something out of a movie, like out of a cop show or something,” he added. Rauanheimo captured video footage of one of the two flash bangs set off by police to coax Posey out of the apartment. “You could feel the camera shake, like the ground shake, when they did it,” he recalled.
The Standoff
The standoff began around 4:30 PM when officers from the Grand Forks Police Department and the FBI attempted to arrest Posey on federal and state drug warrants. Posey is accused of operating a large fentanyl and methamphetamine ring between the Spirit Lake Reservation and the Twin Cities.
Posey was found hiding in a woman’s apartment after jumping through an open window. “I do not know if she saw him, heard him or what, but she was able to get out safely with no harm in any way, shape, or form. She was not held hostage at any time,” said Lieutenant Travis Benson, SWAT team commander.
Police Response
To force Posey out, police deployed flash bangs and gassed the house multiple times. “Quite frankly, I am surprised he was able to last that long within there without having a gas mask,” Benson remarked. Despite attempts by Posey’s mother and sister to contact him and multiple drone flyovers, police had no success in establishing contact.
Conclusion
After nearly seven hours, the SWAT team forced entry and found Posey hiding in a couch. “We had to go in. There’s no exact criteria, the whens, whys or anything like that, but the totality of the circumstances — we had reached the point we had to resolve the situation quickly or we risked potentially someone getting hurt, getting into some sort of greater incident,” Benson explained.
Posey is now facing additional charges stemming from the standoff.