file:///U|/taser/M26/2001/12/Bellevue%20Use.htm

TASERs used to subdue disturbed Eastside man
Wednesday, July 25, 2001
Bellevue police for the first time used TASERs to subdue a suspect, ending a five-hour standoff Tuesday
with a 50-year-old mentally disturbed man who had holed up in his apartment with a knife.
The incident began about 9:20 a.m., when a resident at the apartment building at 1056 108th Ave. E.
reported that a neighbor was throwing water around and brandishing a hatchet.
Appearing agitated and incoherent, the man ignored officers' attempts to contact him in the apartment, and
at times, armed himself with a knife and other objects, police said. Police finally used a siren to distract
the man, while officers entered his apartment with a master key.
When the man refused to comply with their orders, officers fired and stuck him several times with a
TASER -- prongs attached to copper wire that are shot from a gunlike instrument and emit electrical
shocks.
After the third strike, the man complied and was taken into custody, police said.
Police reported no injuries, but the man was taken to Harborview Medical Center for observation. The
man had recently been put on new medication

file:///U|/taser/M26/2001/12/Bellevue%20Use.htm [6/9/2009 1:08:27 PM]