Wichita police release name, more details in man’s arrest after SWAT response
Police on Thursday released the name of the 36-year-old Wichita man they say caused a pursuit Tuesday and a SWAT team response Wednesday in south Wichita.
Justin Lee Galvan, who absconded in January 2020, was arrested on charges connected to the pursuit and on Sedgwick County warrants for aggravated weapons violations, possession of methamphetamine, probation violations, felon in possession of a firearm, domestic violence, child support and intimidation, said Wichita spokesman Trevor Macy.
A standoff started at around noon Wednesday at a home in the 1900 block of South Hillside, near Mount Vernon. After about two hours, and with help from family, Galvan came out and surrendered peacefully, police said.
The manhunt started about two weeks ago.
“We have been working some other cases that involve violence here recently where photos came up from stores and whatnot that identified this person as being involved,” Patrol East Capt. Kevin Kochenderfer said.
“We utilized some of our technology, some of the license plate readers and stuff for associated vehicles, which led us to a vehicle that was on camera on the incident from two weeks ago,” he said. “So we linked the photo of the person to the vehicle that was from (a) Ring doorbell, and then we were able to put that license plate into the database and it told us the area that it was most frequently being alerted at, which was over here.”
Police patrolled the area and found the vehicle at a family member’s home on Hillside, he said.
Police saw Galvan come out of the home and get into the vehicle Tuesday evening. They tried to make a traffic stop, but he took off.
“It was around 4 o’clock, 5 o’clock in the afternoon,” he said. “Traffic was too heavy. We are not going to pursue and put people at risk so we stopped, but we recovered the vehicle which led us back to over here.”
Police watched the home and spotted the man Wednesday. Multiple SWAT and police vehicles were parked on Hillside in front of the home; officers were out front with their guns drawn.
“Officers attempted to take him into custody, but he was able to get inside the home,” Macy said in a news release.
He came out after about two hours.
Kochenderfer said the recent crimes that allegedly involve Galvan had “instances of firearms.” Kochenderfer told media at around 2:50 p.m. Wednesday that police were still trying to get a warrant to search the home for any possible firearms.
Galvan has nine convictions in Sedgwick County dating back to 2008, according to Kansas Department of Corrections records. The convictions include fleeing and eluding police, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, possession of drugs and driving with a suspended license. He has been absconded from community corrections since Jan. 15, 2020. He had previously spent time in prison in 2010 and then absconded in 2011, records show.