ELLSWORTH – As tension in Ellsworth continued to rise during a three-hour standoff that ended peaceably on Friday afternoon, local police Officer Jeremy Cox unexpectedly found himself right in the middle.

The standoff began shortly before noon when 21-year-old William Anderson holed himself up inside a garage at a residence near the intersection of Christian Ridge and Red Bridge Road.

Cox and other officers had little information to go on except that Anderson was distraught over a breakup with his girlfriend that morning. They also knew that he was armed with a rifle and that he was threatening to harm himself.

Three of Anderson’s housemates, including the girlfriend, were evacuated from the home about an hour into the standoff, but remained outside with police.

When Anderson tried calling the girlfriend, it was Cox who answered her cell phone.

“It wasn’t a choice really. I just happened to be the one standing there at the time,” said Cox, who was back to work on Saturday. “For obvious reasons, we didn’t want him talking to the girl, so I took the phone.”

Dottie Small, a detective at the Ellsworth Police Department who was covering a dispatch shift at the station, had tried making contact with Anderson several times, but kept getting disconnected.

So when Cox saw the opportunity to keep Anderson on the phone, he seized it.

“For us, the biggest relief was getting the other people out of the house. Things could have gone bad fast,” the officer said. “But, once they were out, we turned our attention to him.”

Cox admitted he has never really had to deal with a situation like that before.

“I just basically started a conversation with him and tried to keep him calm,” he said. “He had a lot of concerns, and even some requests, but I never really came out and said ‘No.’ It was more like ‘Just come out – let us know you’re safe.'”

The tense standoff shut down Christian Ridge Road for several hours, forced the evacuation of a handful of nearby home and attracted law enforcement personnel from several agencies.

In the end, though, it was Cox’s level-headed intervention that defused the dangerous situation.

Anderson emerged from the house safely not long after a Maine State Police tactical team, wearing camouflage and carrying rifles, surrounded the perimeter.

“I think, after awhile, he started to think more rationally,” Cox said. “He knew he was surrounded, I think.”

Anderson, who likely will be charged with creating a police standoff, was taken to a local hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. Cox said the young man was transferred to another hospital and remained under scrutiny as of late Saturday afternoon.

“We’re glad it ended the way it did,” the officer said.

Friday’s standoff in Ellsworth was the second this month in Hancock County.

On May 2, a man in Sullivan barricaded himself inside a home and kept Hancock County Sheriff’s Department deputies at bay for more than two hours.

The man, who also was threatening to harm himself, eventually ended the standoff when a relative arrived on scene and convinced him to come out.