Cage fighter jailed after standoff

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

A professional “ultimate fighter” and military veteran had to be tear-gassed by police and shot with a Taser in order to end a five-hour standoff Friday at the Warrenville apartment complex where he lives.

Nathan J. Patrick — who bills himself as Nate “The Leviathan” Patrick — remained Wednesday night in DuPage County Jail in Wheaton on $500,000 bail. He faces trial on a felony charge of aggravated battery of a policing volunteer.

Patrick about 3 p.m. Friday barricaded himself inside his second-floor apartment at 31811 Village Green Boulevard, in the Village Green at Cantera Apartments. The complex lies just east of Winfield Road between Warrenville and Ferry roads.

Deputy Warrenville Police Chief John Naydenoff said Friday evening at the scene that a man, later identified as Patrick, was apparently “mentally ill, (with) some problems going on in his life.” Patrick’s mother, who later went to the complex, told police her son had recently stopped taking prescribed medication and had become “increasingly agitated” in recent days.

Police officers had knocked on Patrick’s door, trying to serve him with an order of protection, according to a police news release. Patrick, by way of reply, allegedly “drove a large screwdriver through the door where the officers were standing,” the release stated.

The officers continued their efforts to contact Patrick “but were met with resistance,” the release indicated. “Additionally, Patrick threw a (caustic) substance on one of the officers,” who escaped serious injury.

Police at that point summoned about 30 police officers and firefighters from nearby communities, including members of the Felony Investigative Assistance Team SWAT unit, according to the release. Negotiations with Patrick officially began about 4 p.m.

Patrick about 6:03 p.m. was heard breaking one of the apartment’s windows. He had reportedly gone on a rampage shortly after police first arrived, destroying property inside the apartment and hurling some of it out of the windows

He also “began piling furniture and interior doors from the apartment at the front windows and front door, in an attempt to barricade himself,” the news release stated. It also appeared to police Patrick had self-inflicted cuts on his face and head, the release indicated.

FIAT members at 8 p.m. lobbed canisters of tear gas into the apartment, according to the release. Patrick allegedly refused repeated police commands to surrender, but a FIAT member got a clear shot at him and finally subdued him using a Taser, the release stated.

Paramedics took Patrick to Edward Hospital in Naperville. He was treated for his cuts and given further medical evaluation before being taken to jail.

The news release did not indicate the branch of the military in which Patrick served. It also said only that Patrick “has fought professionally as a mixed martial arts fighter.”

A website called Chicago’s MMA, in a Sept. 26 posting, reported Patrick won a professional fight last year in DeKalb. Several postings on YouTube also show footage of fights in which Patrick has been engaged.

The police news release stated Patrick is 32 years old, although jail records indicated he was born in November 1977, which would make him 33.

Records on file in DuPage County Circuit Court showed Patrick was placed on supervision and fined after being convicted in November 2007 of a misdemeanor charge of attempt at resisting or obstructing a police officer. That crime occurred in July 2006, although the records did not indicate where it took place.

Patrick is also awaiting trial on a charge of drunken driving and three other traffic-related offenses, stemming from a May 1 arrest in Naperville, according to court records. He is scheduled to appear March 22 in court to answer those charges.

Two orders of protection also have been secured against Patrick, court records indicated. He is set to appear March 30 in court in those matters.

Adam Rozeboom, who lives in Patrick’s building, arrived home about 5 p.m. Friday from his job in Romeoville to find yellow plastic crime scene tape draped across nearby Village Green Court. A police officer eventually entered Rozeboom’s unit and brought out Aaliyah, his 4-month-old Labrador retriever mixed-breed puppy.

“I have no idea who he is,” Rozeboom said of the man later identified as Patrick. Rozeboom said he lives on the opposite side of the building.

Several other residents of the complex said police were called there Thursday night to deal with Patrick, after he allegedly leaped from the unit’s balcony, ran across Village Green Court and jumped into a retention pond.

A police spokeswoman on Saturday said no information on the standoff or Patrick’s arrest would be made available to the media, other than what was contained in Friday’s news release.