Cops taser man who tried to flee after accident

April 21, 2008
By KELLY SHIERS, Halifax Chronicle Herald

Police officers used a stun gun on a driver after he tried to flee the scene of an accident in Dartmouth on Sunday night.

The officers had earlier decided not to pursue the man on city streets because he was driving too fast. "He tries to leave the scene and he is Tasered by responding officers because he’s not complying with the orders they’re giving him — basically he was keeping his hands in his pockets and they believed he might be armed," Halifax Police Staff Sgt. Sean Auld said. "He’s been transported to hospital with minor injuries and he’s been arrested for impaired driving and fleeing police."

Staff Sgt. Auld said the vehicle the man was driving had been reported stolen in Cole Harbour and was believed to have been involved in a hit-and-run accident before Halifax police spotted it.

At the time, officers were responding to a call from another driver who reported that he had followed a vehicle from Cole Harbour Road to Portland Street and then to Highway 111. The driver being followed was driving erratically and "at a high rate of speed," the officer said. The caller believed the driver was impaired, he said.

Just before 8:30 p.m., officers observed the vehicle near the Burnside exit on Highway 111, he said.

"They started to pursue it, to try to catch up to it, and he was driving too fast," Staff Sgt. Auld said. "We made the decision to shut down the pursuit. It didn’t last more than 30 seconds."

But just a short time later, the driver lost control of the vehicle on Chappell Street. He drove through a yard and hit a car, then attempted to leave the scene on foot, he said.