It took only seven minutes from when he got the call for Harris County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Aaron Brown to reach the scene of the standoff on the North Freeway.
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — Harris County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Aaron Brown didn’t hesitate to spring into action when he got a call that a woman was in a standoff in the middle of the North Freeway last week.
Brown, a crisis negotiator, was front and center as the scene unfolded along I-45 near FM 1960 last Thursday afternoon.
“I ran up to the front and got to work. I saw a person in need, and I wanted to help,” he said.
It only took him seven minutes from the time he got the call to get to the scene.
“I saw a woman in pain sitting in a chair in the middle lane of traffic, distraught with a gun to her neck,” he said.
She stayed there for five hours as traffic in both directions was blocked off.
Brown spent hours trying to get her to drop the gun. He was about 50 feet away and was partially protected by a shield.
“She was really having some dark and dangerous delusions, and based on my training and experience, I’m going to listen. Everyone thinks that negotiating has a lot to do with talking … it has everything to do with listening,” he said.
Brown said he was able to connect with the woman and create a bond based on shared experiences and personal connections — like family.
“At one point, she was having a delusion that her adult children were deceased,” Brown said. “We were able to bring her daughter up and show her that hey, your daughter is here.”
The more they talked, he felt, the closer he was to getting through to her.
“There was a huge change about three hours in,” he said. “She’s a grandparent, she’s a mother. This is a good person having a bad day, and I was talking about my grandmother, and she was talking about her family, and she gave me the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen. Then, I said, ‘That’s you. Now I’m talking to you.'”
Brown said that if you ever find yourself in a similar situation, there are a few things you can do to help talk a person down:
- Stay calm
- Listen to the person more than talk to them
- Make a connection and build trust
“I think having authenticity and having some life experience (helps). I think we’re all damaged — stuff that’s happened to all of us and being able to pull into that when you’re talking to people on their darkest day is important,” Brown said.
Ultimately, it worked. The woman dropped the gun and stood up. She shook Brown’s hand and hugged another officer before she was taken away for a mental evaluation.
“She is a mom, she has kids, her kids are wonderful. She’s a grandmother, a mother and a dog owner,” Brown said.
Those are the things that gave her something to live for. Something that Brown believes gets lost sometimes.