'It's Either Death By Cop Or A Court Date': Gerald Bolster Charged With Threatening Police In Hastings Standoff
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The man at the center of last week's 15-hour standoff in Hastings is accused of threatening to kill police officers and blow up the trailer he was inside with two children.
Gerald Bolster, of Hastings, is charged with three counts of threats of violence, two counts of child endangerment, and one count of violating a restraining order, court documents filed this week in Dakota County show.
According to a criminal complaint, the standoff started last Thursday morning at the Three Rivers Mobile Home Park. A 911 caller reported that Bolster threatened the park manager after she told him a vehicle on his property was being towed.
Police found Bolster in a trailer with a woman and four children. Investigators say that a restraining order issued earlier this year barred Bolster from setting foot near the home.
When police knocked on the door, the woman answered, the complaint states. Officers asked her to step out, and she did. Two children also left the trailer.
But when the woman went to get a third child from the trailer, Bolster pushed her out and shut the door. He sealed himself inside with two children, ages 4 and 13.
Police urged him to let the children go and told him he was violating the restraining order. Bolster responded with an ultimatum: either they were going to give him a court date or he was going to shoot at officers.
"It's either death by cop or a court date," he said, according to the complaint. "You pick."
Through the home's window, Bolster appeared to be holding a handgun. While on the phone with Bolster, officers could hear what sounded like the cocking of a gun.
Later, as the standoff went on, Bolster threatened several times to fill the trailer with gas and blow it up with himself and the children inside, the complaint states.
The standoff lasted the rest of the day. Due to the extreme heat and humidity, responding SWAT officers had to work in shifts to avoid heat exhaustion.
At one point, the older child was able to leave the trailer. However, the 4-year-old was unable to leave until the stanoff was resolved in the early hours of Friday morning.
No one was hurt in the 15-hour standoff. Police found a plastic handgun in the trailer.
After his arrest, Bolster again made threats to officers.
"I'll get out of prison in 10 years and start killing cops," he said, according to the complaint.
If convicted of all the charges against him, Bolster faces more than 20 years behind bars.
Investigators say he has previous convictions for stalking and fourth-degree assault.