Armed Standoff After Suspect Runs Down One Cyclist, Assaults Another and Pulls a Knife on Police

A motorist who allegedly ran down one cyclist and assaulted another was arrested following a long standoff with a SWAT team in Mentor, Ohio on Wednesday.

Local media said that Michael Leppelmeier (42) will appear in Mentor Municipal Court on Monday as a result of his behavior, which included him brandishing a knife at an armed police officer and walking towards him despite calls to stop.

The white male is seen in bodycam footage repeatedly telling the officer to leave the property where he was found, and returned to the house after a taser apparently failed to discharge properly.

According to Cleveland19.com, investigators said that emergency calls about aggressive behavior began coming in around 11am.

“A biker has just been hit by a speeding car in front of my house,” said one caller.

The cyclist, identified as a 72 year old, said on police video what happened. “I was riding along the road here and some guy deliberately crossed [the line] and hit me. I couldn’t even stop.”

A second call came in from a 68 year old.

“I’m riding my bike. Some guy went by in a white Ford Explorer and threw a fricking battery pack at me.”

He then reported an escalation in the situation.

“Now he is trying to hit me with his car,” he is heard shouting. “Get away from me… He is coming at me…”

The cyclist is shown on camera describing to police what happened next.

“Then he stopped and he literally gets out of his car and he goes, ‘give me your f**n phone. The next thing I know he is coming at me.’

He said the driver tried to run him down, punched him in the face and threw his bike into a pond.

Threats against police

A separate bodycam video shows the same cyclist pointing at a large area of water. “He threw my f**ing bicycle,” he states. “It’s a 35 hundred dollar bike.”

That same clip also show the standoff with the suspect, including footage of him threatening police with a knife and appearing to shrug off an attempt to tase him.

Witnesses picked up his license plate after the incidents with the cyclists, helping to identify Leppelmeier. Around the same time a 911 caller told police that her neighbor was acting erratically and that he had sped off in his vehicle.

Police went to his home and barricaded him in for hours. Leppelmeier was eventually taken into custody.

Both cyclists are expected to recover after the incidents.