A Joshua Tree man was arrested late Sunday night after deputies say he refused to let a woman leave his house. Deputies were called to the 4500 block of Avenida del Sol in Joshua Tree for a verbal argument just after 8 p.m. When the resident, Thomas Pratt, 26, saw deputies, he came outside, took off his shoes, and challenged the deputy to a fight. The deputy could hear a woman crying inside the home, and when she was asked to come outside, Pratt picked up a 10-inch hunting knife, re-entered the home, and refused to let the woman leave the home or speak with deputies. Pratt then barricaded the front door and pushed against it to prevent the deputy from entering, and to keep the woman from leaving the home. The deputy forced entry into the house and physically subdued Pratt. The woman was not injured. Thomas Pratt was arrested for investigation of false imprisonment and felony resisting arrest, booked into the Morongo Basin Jail with his bail set at $25,000.
