Brewer police used pepper spray to draw a man down from on top of a pickup cab after his girlfriend reported he had assaulted her late Sunday night.

Richard Miller, 40, became enraged after being sprayed and after leaving his perch, he grabbed a shovel from the truck and began to swing it at police, according to reports. The officers then ordered Miller to the ground at gunpoint and he complied.

Brewer police Officer David Lord was initially called shortly after 11 p.m. to the Holyoke Street residence where Miller’s girlfriend said that he tried to prevent her from leaving during an argument and then threw her to the floor.

Lord and Cpl. Jason Moffitt went to speak to Miller and found him on top of the cab, refusing to come down, Moffitt said. When he refused repeated efforts by police to get him to come down, authorities used the pepper spray. Once down, Miller began to swing the shovel at Moffitt, according to reports.

He was charged with domestic assault and criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon.

A Fling Street woman called Brewer police to report that a neighbor in her apartment was no longer wanted there.

When Officer David Lord arrived, matters had apparently escalated. Through the apartment door, Lord could see that Alfred Murray, 42, – clad only in his underwear – had cornered his neighbor and was preventing her from leaving by butting her with his left shoulder when she tried to get past him, according to the report. Miller was arrested and charged with assault and with violation of bail conditions as police said he was already out on bail from a previous charge.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli