Taser bolt subdues man after stand-off
Feb 5 2008 by Neil McKay, The Journal
A MAN who caused a tense three-hour stand-off outside a house was overpowered when a police marksman fired 50,000 electric volts from Taser stun gun into him.
Officers surrounded a semi-detached house in Penshaw Gardens, East Stanley, County Durham, on Sunday afternoon after terrified Keile Waugh, 21, fled with her two children, aged two and three.
Ms Waugh said her partner, aged 20, had “flipped” in the house. Police and firefighters raced to the scene after the man allegedly threatened to set the house alight.
The stand-off came to an end when the marksman shot the man after he came outside through a downstairs window, at around 7.15pm on Sunday.
Ms Waugh, 21, received facial cuts, apparently when shards of glass from a broken window struck her – an incident which led to the emergency services being called.
She said: “It all started when he wanted to go fishing, and couldn’t find anybody to go with. He then went upstairs to go to bed. After a short while I went up to wake him up and he just went mad, starting to smash the place up. I had to get out with the kids, I was terrified.”
Police and fire crews were called to the house, which faces on to a green, at 4.15pm on Sunday.
Tom Simms, a firefighter for County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service, said: “Someone was locked in the house and we were told there was a risk of them pouring petrol all over the premises, which is why we were on stand-by.”
A spokesman for Durham Police said: “Initially the officers mounted a containment operation.
“They surrounded the house and a negotiator was called in. Meanwhile armed response officers were deployed.”
He said the man was subdued with a Taser stun gun when he left the house through the broken downstairs window. He added that a knife was found in his possession on arrest.
The spokesman said police were satisfied there was no petrol in the house before firing the Taser.
A man, 20, was being questioned by police last night.
The incident happened just four miles from the village of Sacriston, where father-of-seven Brian Loan, 46, died of a heart attack three days after being shot with a Taser gun, in October 2006. An inquest recorded a verdict of death from natural causes.
