Tamms man surrenders after standoff with Cape police

Cape Girardeau police surrounded an apartment building on South Spring Street shortly after noon Tuesday and engaged in a short standoff with a suspected drug dealer.

Clifton N. Brown, 22, of Tamms, Ill., gave himself up after about 20 minutes of hiding in the second-floor apartment at 639 S. Spring St. in the Cape La Croix Luxury Apartments. Police expect formal charges to be filed against Brown today.

Brown allegedly fled to the apartment after he was seen trying to enter a storage unit at U Store & Lock It, 2301 Bloomfield Road. The storage unit had been searched Monday by narcotics officers, who found about five pounds of marijuana and four rifles, detective Bill Bohnert said.

Officers had not had time to apply for an arrest warrant for Brown when he was spotted at the storage unit, Bohnert said. When police appeared, Bohnert said, "he figured the jig was up and ran across the lot."

Brown surrendered after appearing on the apartment balcony and demanding that officers put their guns away.

Philip Brock, resident of a nearby apartment, watched from the parking lot as police waited for Brown to surrender. "I never knew who lived there because there were so many people coming and going," he said.

Officers searching the apartment after Brown surrendered discovered cocaine and additional weapons, said Sgt. Barry Hovis, a police spokesman, but details were not available.

Brown is on probation for a 2002 conviction for felony stealing. He pleaded guilty to a single stealing count in November 2002 and was placed on five years' supervised probation.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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