Police arrest Joe DiMaggio in standoff at water plant in Lincolnville

A 54-year-old Jacksonville man, Joseph Vincent DiMaggio, remains in jail tonight, held without bond, after his arrest by St Augustine Police Saturday afternoon.  DiMaggio, whose address was reported as 2950 Napa Valley Ct in Jacksonville, was booked at 7:42 p.m.

The day of drama for local police began with a 911 call received Saturday, January 16, 2021 at about 11:20 a.m., reporting a suspicious recreational vehicle parked near the City Water Treatment Plant at the end of Riberia Street.  Officers encountered two men one of whom was DiMaggio.

“The driver parked the 40-foot motorhome in a restricted zone,” said Dee Brown, Public Information Officer for the City Police Department.  “Then he closed all the windows and drew the blinds closed, refusing to come out to speak to the officers at the scene.”

Police Department dispatchers contacted the St Johns County Sheriffs Office and St Johns County Fire Rescue for assistance due to the incident’s close proximity to the operating water plant.  Responding agencies were staged near the Willie Galimore Center in Lincolnville.  According to public posts on the department’s social media pages, officers asked people to stay back and turned people away from the area.

The first break in the standoff came at approximately 4:05 p.m., when the second unidentified man voluntarily came out of the motorhome.  Brown indicated that the second man came out of the vehicle of his own accord and was not under arrest.

DiMaggio was extracted from the motorhome by SWAT Team members of the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office. He was arrested and charged with battery, a first-degree misdemeanor; adult kidnapping or false imprisonment, a third-degree felony; trespassing, a first-degree misdemeanor; resisting or obstructing a police officer without violence, a first-degree misdemeanor; and leaving the scene of a crash involving damage to property, a second-degree misdemeanor.

Brown said the community is now safe and the scene is secure.  The department announced on facebook that the roads have re-opened and police have left the scene.