Texas father who caused hospital standoff released

George Pickering II's son was declared "brain-dead" after he suffered a massive stroke in January.

Pickering grabbed a gun, walked into the hospital and became locked in a stand-off with police.

During the standoff, Pickering says he got the signs he was hoping to see in his son.

"They were saying he was brain dead, he was a vegetable", Pickering told KPRC.

The hospital planned a "terminal wean", the process that slowly ends life. The staff had even notified an organ donation organization that Pickering's son was a donor.

"They were moving too fast. The hospital, the nurses, the doctors". "I knew if I had three or four hours that night, that I would know whether George was brain-dead or not".

KPRC reports that last January, George Pickering II took a gun to the hospital where his son was being kept on life support, and was involved in a standoff with police.

He was quickly disarmed by his other son, but continued to make threats, and lied about having another weapon.

Police say Pickering threatened hospital staff during his three-hour standoff with police.

"George squeezed my hand three or four times on command", Pickering said.

Police used a robot to draw back the curtain after hours of negotiations.

Pickering, however, wasn't ready to let go - now, his son, George Pickering III, is still alive and well because of it.

Since then, one charge was dismissed, while the other was reduced to a lesser offense and he was given credit for time served and was released in December.

"There was a law broken, but it was broken for all the right reasons".

"Everything good that made me a man is because of that man sitting next to me", he said.