A rec. center employee has been taken into custody after he locked himself in an office and tunneled through the wall of a facility in Philly’s Ogontz neighborhood while experiencing, what police believe, was a mental health crisis early Thursday. According to Philadelphia Police Department Ch ief Inspector Scott Small, the incident happened just before 2 a.m. on Thursday when a 41-year-old man, who worked at Belfield Recreation Center at the intersection of North 21st Street and West Chew Avenue, locked himself in an office there during a time that he wasn’t scheduled to work. “He locked himself in there and was not allowing fire department paramedics to go in and treat him and also wasn’t letting co-workers inside of that office,” said Small. Small said police believe the man initially called emergency services himself for a “hospital case” as the man may have known he needed some support. However, when Philadelphia Fire Department paramedics arrived, the man locked himself in, what Small said, was an office or pool storage area, and refused to come out. In fact, when other employees attempted to use keys to unlock the office, they found the man had “done something so the door would not open,” Small said. For some time, he said, police negotiators attempted to get the man to exit the office on his own, talking through the door and calling a phone in the office, but it was to no avail. “He would talk and then he would hang up on us,” said Small. “After awhile he stopped communicating.” Eventually, Small said, officials wanted to get inside to ensure the man was unharmed and to determine what type of medical help he may have needed, so, SWAT officers forced their way into the door. But, there was no one in the room once the door opened, he said. “When they did that, the male was not in the very small office,” Small said of SWAT officers opening the door. “But, they saw that he tore open some plywood in a bathroom wall and they didn’t know where he was, whether he was in the wall or climbed up into the ceiling.” After some investigation, Small said, officers found the man climbed into the ceiling before dropping into an adjoining office. He was found in that nearby office shortly afterwards and he was taken into custody without incident, according to Small. Also, Small said, the man was unharmed, had no weapons and never made any threats to police officers during this incident. “He’s not going to be charged with any crimes at this time,” said Small. “It just appears he has some mental health issues.” There was some damage done to the recreation center through the course of this ordeal and, Small noted that the man may have to deal with some consequences of that, but an investigation into the incident is still ongoing. Following the incident, this man, Small said, was taken to a nearby medical facility for a mental health evaluation. “He’s going to get the treatment he needs,” said Small. This is a breaking news story. It will be updated as new information becomes available. ...read more read less