A brief standoff in Burlington came to a peaceful conclusion on Tuesday when members of the city’s police managed to take an area woman into custody for a charge of misdemeanor assault.
Tonya Lynnette Mebane ultimately gave herself up to the police officers who came by her home at 3015 Winston Drive to investigate a report of a “domestic disturbance.”
According to a subsequent magistrate’s order, the basis for this complaint was an act of physical abuse that Mebane allegedly perpetrated against her elderly mother “by slapping” her “in the back.” Officers went on to charge the 44-year-old black female with the misdemeanor crime of simple assault for this alleged action.
According to the magistrate’s order, Mebane initially defied the police officer who had been dispatched to her home to investigate this reported assault. She reportedly flouted the officer’s “commands to exit the residence, shutting the door in the officer’s face” while “hitting a police drone” that another officer had been piloting.
A subsequent news release suggested that Mebane’s obstreperousness continued to mount as other officers arrived on the scene. At one point, according to the news release, Mebane “barricaded herself in a bedroom,” where officers feared she was holed up with a weapon.
“Police department negotiators and the SWAT team promptly arrived at the scene to further secure the area,” the agency’s news release goes on to recall, “[and] through perimeter control and rapport building, officers were able to safely take Mebane into custody.”
Mebane’s alleged recalcitrance resulted in a second misdemeanor charge for resisting a public officer. She has since been released under a $3,500 secured bond.
