Written by Times staff reporter Mark Rahner

Seattle police said they'd live to catch their man another day.

A standoff in the city's Central Area ended anticlimactically Monday night after officers did a cost-benefit analysis of the situation and decided to call it off.

Shortly after 7 p.m., the Seattle Police Department's Major Crimes Task Force received a tip that a suspect wanted on a felony narcotics warrant had been spotted in the 1800 block of 24th Avenue East, SPD spokeswoman Renee Witt said.

When police arrived, the suspect, whose name wasn't released, retreated into the house he shares with his father and 5-year-old niece.

Police called out a SWAT unit, set up a mobile precinct and tried to contact the suspect, but he didn't respond.

After a couple of hours, police "decided to back off," Witt said, on grounds that the warrant was for a nonviolent crime and worth only $15,000.

The operation was shut down for the night, and Witt said she was confident police would catch up with the man another time.