Alaska News

Police deploy stun gun on man 'running around in traffic' in Anchorage

A man confronted by police for wandering through busy Debarr Road Sunday afternoon allegedly pushed an officer into a truck before police shocked him with a Taser and handcuffed him in the parking lot of a nearby hospital.

The officer was left with a bruised head.

Police were called to the intersection of Debarr Road and Debarr Circle in East Anchorage just before 4 p.m. on Sunday. Drivers had reported a man "running around in traffic," said Anchorage Police Department Sgt. Shaun Henry, who was on the scene.

Traffic was restricted on the road while a knot of parked police cars blocked the area surrounding the man. Several officers encircled the man on a sidewalk.

"They were choosing to try and keep talking to him," Henry said.

That's when the man suddenly pushed an officer into the street, he said. "We went to physically grab him and he shoved the officer into the road."

The officer "hit his head on the front of a truck fender," Henry said.

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The suspect then ran across Debarr Road, with several police officers in pursuit. Police tried twice to shock the man with a Taser. On the second try, the suspect fell in the parking lot of Alaska Regional Hospital.

There, officers put the yelling man in a position called "maximum restraints."

The position, where a person's arms and legs are folded in handcuffs attached behind their back, is meant to prevent a suspect from kicking without putting pressure on their ability to breathe, Henry said.

Police told the man to "stop fighting" and he said he wasn't. "You're trying to shock me!" he yelled.

The man's erratic behavior and seeming lack of response to pain were signs of drug intoxication that could be dangerous, Henry said.

"Who knows what he's got cranking through his system," Henry said.

Medics arrived to check on the man, who police had not identified with certainty at the scene. He was still handcuffed on the ground, his face bloodied. It was unclear when or how the bleeding had started.

Police and medics decided he should be taken to a hospital. Then, he'd go to jail, where he'd likely face charges of assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, Henry said.

Michelle Theriault Boots

Michelle Theriault Boots is a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. She focuses on in-depth stories about the intersection of public policy and Alaskans' lives. Before joining the ADN in 2012, she worked at daily newspapers up and down the West Coast and earned a master's degree from the University of Oregon.

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