Dad loses arm-wrestling match to son, triggering 8-hour police standoff

Some parents like to let their kids win now and then, whether it’s during a friendly game of chess, Connect Four or arm wrestling.

But not Curtis Zimmerman. The 55-year-old allegedly flipped out after losing multiple arm-wrestling matches against his underage son in a bizarre incident that involved a physical fight, gunshots and a stand-off with police in Kentucky early Monday.

“Zimmerman was intoxicated and challenged his juvenile son to an arm-wrestling contest,” the Boone County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. Authorities say Zimmerman lost “multiple times” to the boy, which made him upset and led to a physical fight.

It’s unclear how the two were separated, but the father grabbed a gun and fired two shots while his son was fleeing upstairs, police said.

“Zimmerman stated that he fired the shots into the ceiling,” the sheriff’s office said.

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Police were called to the scene at about 1 a.m. in Florence, Ky., where they soon found themselves in a standoff with the suspect. The boy and another family member had already left the home when authorities arrived.

The suspect refused to leave the house, touching off an eight-hour standoff with sheriff’s deputies and SWAT teams, officials said.

A hostage negotiator convinced the suspect to surrender at about 8:25 a.m., police said.

No one was injured in the ordeal.

Police said Zimmerman would be evaluated in hospital and later arrested on a warrant for charges of wanton endangerment.

The age of the boy has not been released.

The Associated Press was not able to determine whether the suspect has a lawyer to speak on his behalf.