Taser Used to Subdue Suspect During Drug Investigation

The state of Indiana allows its police officers to use Tasers in keeping the peace, and it’s a good thing, too. Last week deputies in Mishawaka took a report on some problem behavior. A woman who had been living with her forty-two-year old boyfriend stated that he had hit her in the head several times during a fight.

While police were working the mid-morning call, the woman reported that her boyfriend was running a mobile methamphetamine lab in the back of his pickup truck. At that point the man attempted to sprint away from authorities. Just then one of the officers managed to get a grip on the suspect who continued resisting. In order to subdue the struggling man, Corporal Steve Headley drew his Taser and fired.

Tasers operate by deploying a pair of barbed projectiles which are tethered by about fifteen feet of shielded wire to the hand-held unit. Police versions of the Taser deliver a 50,000-volt shock to the subject which usually results in a painful jolt followed by the inability to control skeletal muscles. The subject then falls to the ground, unhurt.

Since the effects last for several seconds, there is a window of time when authorities typically move in to restrain the subject and gain control over the situation.

In this case police arrested the man and took him to the St. Joseph County jail. Meanwhile, Indiana State Police Investigators put in a call to South Bend’s Metro Special Operations unit which is expected to impound and destroy all the materials from the meth lab.