Early Wednesday morning, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) deployed their recently acquired $278,000 robot police dog during a standoff with a man believed to be armed, who reportedly fell asleep on a bus in Hollywood.
Officers were sent to the area of Western and Melrose avenues just before 4 AM, according to LAPD Spokesperson Drake Madison, in response to a “man with a gun radio call.”
Early media reports and a tweet from the LAPD suggested that the man on the bus had a “firearm” at his feet. However, this afternoon, LAPD Spokesperson Drake Madison confirmed with L.A. TACO that only a “BB gun” was recovered from the scene.
The man was taken into custody at about 6:30 AM, and no injuries were reported, police said. His name was not immediately available.
This is at least the second time the LAPD has used their robot police dog during a standoff between SWAT and a barricaded suspect.
In August, SWAT deployed the robot police dog while trying to bring a man who was holed up in a stairwell in a Koreatown strip mall into custody. Coincidentally, the suspect was also believed to be armed with a firearm that turned out to be an airsoft gun.
City News Service contributed to this report.
