Police kill man who grabbed Taser

June 7, 2008
by Beth Duckett, The Arizona Republic

A brawl outside a Phoenix home turned into a fatal shooting Saturday morning, when officers were forced to take serious measures with a suspect who tried to use a Taser stun gun on them.

Police responded to a burglary call at 3:05 a.m. at a house near 7th Ave and Wilshire after the homeowner saw someone in his yard and heard the person in his carport and shed.

An officer confronted a man who was clutching two metal flower stands in the front yard of the house.
The officer ordered the suspect to drop the stands, but he refused.

When the officer shot the man with a Taser, the suspect dropped the stands and removed the Taser's wires from his body. When officers tried to arrest the man, he fought back, grabbed an officer's Taser and tried to use it on police.

“The suspect shocked both officers at different times during the fight,” said Phoenix police spokeswoman Stacie Derge.

A third officer arrived during the scuffle and shot the suspect, who died at the scene.

The officers were not seriously injured, but received minor scrapes in the fight. The homeowner stayed in his house throughout the incident and was not injured.