Police Use Stun Guns on Three Men in One Day

Last week the police officers in Vernon made good use of the stun guns adorning their utility belts in three separate situations.

The first situation ramped up when a local officer spotted a SUV without a license plate. When Lieutenant Brian Smith attempted to stop the Ford Explorer the driver only slowed a bit.

According to Smith the driver headed out onto Interstate 84 doing about 60 mph in the breakdown lane. Ignoring the officer’s loudspeaker directions to stop, the driver floored it and the original officer gave up. A short while later another officer spotted the car in a parking lot. When the officer attempted to arrest the driver, he resisted, so officers fired a TASER at the driver to bring him into compliance.

A little while later, police answered a call from someone at a local apartment building where a 350-pound man was threatening suicide. He lunged at the responding officers and had to be stunned twice before he was subdued enough to take into custody. Officers transported him to a nearby hospital for psychiatric treatment. Some time later the hospital called for police assistance because the same guy was damaging one of the rooms.

Incident number three was the result of a domestic disturbance that went even further awry. Following an argument the man in question refused to allow his paramour to leave the apartment. Luckily she was able to escape but the boyfriend chased after her.

When law enforcement officers arrived on the scene he tucked a hand behind his back. He announced that he had a gun (he didn’t) and dared officers to shoot him. When officers did not do so, the boyfriend charged one of the officers who used a stun gun to bring an end to the confrontation.

In each case officers were deemed to have responded appropriately when using their non lethal weapons.