Deputies Use Fire Hose to End Standoff at Court

Deputies ended a 13-hour standoff with a man who had barricaded himself in a van outside a Monterey Park courthouse when they shattered a window of the van and blasted him with a fire hose early Thursday.

Soaked and shivering, David Kooyman, 48, of Covina was pulled from the van, taken into custody and placed under psychiatric observation after protesting a Children’s Court ruling. Kooyman, who lost custody of his three children 17 months ago, was ordered held on $15,000 bond for violating a restraining order, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

“He looked pretty much like a drowned rat when they got him out,” said sheriff’s spokesman Bruce Thomas. “He didn’t put up any struggle. All he wanted was a blanket and a warm place to go. That water was pretty cold.”

Kooyman, who said he was devastated by the loss of his children and accused court officials of corrupt behavior, had parked his custom van across the entrance of Edelman Children’s Court at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday. He was later found to be carrying no weapons or explosives, but he had posted a sign warning bystanders to stand clear of the vehicle and telephoned The Times to demand an investigation of the Children’s Court.

“I’ve been stewing over this for a long time,” a nervous Kooyman said during a four-hour cellular phone conversation.

For most of Wednesday evening, about 350 people were ordered to remain in the courthouse as a precaution. The occupants, which included 60 children, were finally led from the building in small groups over several hours.

Kooyman, who had said he planned to stay in the van for six months to get his point across, spoke several times with authorities before negotiations broke down, the Sheriff’s Department said. Then the department’s SWAT team fired a rubber bullet through the driver’s window, thrust a fire hose into the van and began filling the vehicle with water.