The Island County Sheriff’s Office made extraordinary efforts to prevent violence and de-escalate a standoff with an unpredictable Greenbank man who had cut down a power pole with a chainsaw, closing down Highway 525 all day Sunday.

Island County Sheriff Rick Felici said responders had reason to believe that 44-year-old Joshua G. Burden was armed and may have made pipe bombs. In addition, Burden, who was wanted on multiple felonies, previously made violent threats, according to court documents.

But in the end, the waiting game worked. SWAT teams from the Washington State Patrol and the Cascade Region joined the sheriff’s office in surrounding the house. After deputies spoke to Burden for endless hours on a PA system and deployed drones and tear gas — which the suspect later said he slept through — a talking robot finally coaxed him out of the house at about 2 a.m. Monday, the sheriff said.

The incident cut power to thousands in the area and disrupted traffic for an entire day. A cell phone alert warned Greenbank residents to avoid the area and shelter in their homes.

Felici said the peaceful resolution was worth the inconvenience and effort.

“The team just knocked it out of the ballpark,” he said. “They were super patient and used all the resources available to us.”

Felici explained that the rigamarole with Burden had actually been going on all week. Deputies decided not to confront Burden at the house for days after he violated a no-contact order, tried to get guns, eluded police, crashed his car and fled to his home on Sept. 10; he then cut power lines on his own property and was heard screaming about God, operating machinery and possibly shooting a gun, according to court documents.

Felici said Burden wasn’t affecting anyone else at that point and deputies hoped he would just exhaust himself.

Burden appeared in Island County Superior Court Monday afternoon. Judge Christon Skinner found probable cause existed to believe he committed the crimes of felony violation of a domestic violence no-contact order, misdemeanor violation of a no-contact order, malicious mischief in the first degree, unlawful possession of a firearm and attempting to elude.

At the request of the deputy prosecutor, Skinner set Burden’s bail at $100,000 in the current case and revoked bail altogether in a felony domestic violence assault case from last year. Skinner also agreed that Burden should see a mental health professional for possible involuntary commitment before being released from jail.

Burden said he doesn’t recognize the authority of the court.

“I don’t know why I’m here exactly. I had terrorists come and drag me out of my house this morning,” he said.

In December 2023, prosecutors charged Burden with a series of domestic violence charges, including two counts of assault in the second degree and unlawful imprisonment, after he allegedly pointed a gun at his girlfriend’s face and threw a boulder through a car window, according to court documents.

At the preliminary appearance hearing last year, the prosecutor recommended that the judge set Burden’s bail at $50,000 because of a high risk of him committing another violent offense. Burden’s attorney asked that Burden be released on his personal recognizance. He pointed out that Burden is a long-term resident who has his own business and whose only criminal history was a gross misdemeanor domestic-violence assault.

At the December hearing, Judge Skinner ordered that Burden be held in lieu of a $25,000 bond or $2,500 cash bail. Soon afterward, Burden posted the cash bail and was released.

A motion for an arrest warrant filed in superior court describes the series of events that began Sept. 10 when Burden’s ex-girlfriend reported that he had violated a no-contact order by texting her strange messages. In one message, he wrote that his land returned to 1776, when “women didn’t talk back” and would be stoned to death if they cheated on their husbands.

The woman also reported that Burden had assaulted her at the Highway 525 property a month prior. The detective went to Burden’s home, but wasn’t able to contact him.

On Sept. 12, Burden allegedly went to the sheriff’s office in Coupeville and attempted to obtain firearms which he had surrendered. Under the conditions of release in the prior domestic violence case, he was not allowed to possess guns. A deputy tried to pull him over as he was driving home, but he fled at a high rate of speed and crashed into a ditch on Highway 525 near his home. He ran to his home.

On the same day, a neighbor reported that Burden was running around his property, screaming that he wanted to kill people and claiming that he is the Lord. He reportedly knocked down a tree with an excavator. The neighbor also reported hearing gunshots.

Later, a neighbor reported that Burden knocked down a power pole on his own property, which didn’t affect power at neighboring home.

Due to Burden’s hostility and history of making threats of violence involving firearms, detectives decided to monitor the situation and come up with an arrest plan.

“It was determined that contact was not safe and Burden was only destroying his own property,” the report states.

Deputies asked the neighbors to call 911 if the situation changed or if they felt they were in immediate danger.

The situation changed Sunday morning when Burden cut down a power pole on the highway right-of-way, causing it to fall across the road. The highway was closed and traffic was rerouted. Felici said law enforcement at the scene tried various methods to get Burden to give up. They shot tear gas under the house, to no effect.

In the end, officers used a robot with an open microphone to approach the house and talk to Burden. He came out of the house and was arrested without incident. No pipe bombs or guns were found on the property, Felici said.