HICKORY, N.C. — A road in Hickory has reopened after a SWAT standoff with a driver ended with tear gas being deployed on Monday afternoon.
Armored vehicles boxed in a driver on Springs Road in Hickory for more than an hour as officers worked to arrest a suspect for reckless driving.
The standoff started with a traffic stop, officials told Channel 9’s Dave Faherty. Officers pulled the suspect over, but when they got to his door, he had a gun.
Catawba County Sheriff’s deputies warned drivers and others to clear the area as investigators and SWAT negotiated with the driver.
William Huffman told Faherty that he was hauling wood when he drove right into the middle of the standoff.
“I didn’t know anything until I came over the top of the hill there and everybody had already stopped,” he said. “I couldn’t really tell. I didn’t know what was going on.”
Things escalated quickly, investigators said.
“The driver was armed with a pistol,” Major Aaron Turk said. “Showed the deputy that pistol and encouraged the deputy to shoot him.”
SWAT boxed the driver in with armored cars and fired gas containers into the cab of the pickup truck, breaking out the window.
That’s when the driver surrendered and was taken into custody, officials said.
One woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she watched the standoff unfold outside her front door.
“I think they handled it well,” she said. “They gave him plenty of opportunity and plenty of time to come out, and he didn’t come out. Scary for me because the officer kept saying we were in the line of fire. I’m still shaking a little bit.”
Charges against the man are pending, deputies said. But for now, he has been taken to a hospital for evaluation.
WATCH: MEDIC: 2 seriously hurt in back-to-back shootings
©2026 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
