Man arrested after 7-hour standoff

Deepa Bharath

Police evacuated several residents in a condominium complex early

Friday when a 37-year-old man barricaded himself in his home with a

loaded handgun after allegedly beating his wife, officials said.

The Newport Beach SWAT team waited and watched for about seven

hours, after which they entered the condo in Tribune Court and

arrested Joseph Prodan on suspicion of domestic violence, Sgt. Steve

Shulman said. Officers took Prodan into custody without incident.

The incident began at 1:07 a.m. when dispatchers received a 911

call from a boy who said that his father was beating his mother,

Shulman said. Officers met the victim at the door. The woman, whose

name was not released, is said to be in her 40s.

Police saw the woman had suffered facial injuries, Shulman said.

She told officers that her husband had medical problems, including

manic depression, was on medication and had been drinking, he said.

She also told police that Prodan had a loaded handgun in their home.

Officers then called for the SWAT team to help get Prodan out of

his home, Shulman said.

“At this point, they evacuated about seven of the neighboring

homes,” he said.

Shulman said the SWAT team, including two hostage negotiators,

tried to contact Prodan for hours.

“They tried calling him at home several times,” he said. “They

tried to throw a phone into the residence in case his phone wasn’t

working for some reason. But he just did not respond. And we were

concerned about his safety.”

Shortly before 8 a.m., SWAT team members entered the home and

arrested Prodan “once they realized he wasn’t going to come out,”

Shulman said. They took a .38-caliber handgun from the home, he said.

The neighbors returned to their homes after the arrest, and the

victim and her two children returned to their home later in the

morning, Shulman said.

A neighbor who did not want to be identified said blaring sirens

and flashing red and blue lights woke him up “very early in the

morning.”

“At 4 a.m., they said we need to evacuate and they expect a

shootout,” he said. “None of the neighbors got much sleep last

night.”

His wife tried to go to work in the morning, but hastened back

upstairs after she found most of the area closed off with yellow tape

and several officers with their guns drawn, he said.

Prodan was taken to Newport Beach city jail and later to Orange

County Jail, where he is being held on $25,000 bail.

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.