BIGHORN CANYON NATIONAL RECREATION AREA
Taser Employed In Confrontation With Would-Be Assailant
The park’s chief of interpretation called in a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot of the Ok-A-Beh contact station on the afternoon of March 14th. A ranger moved in behind the vehicle and followed it down Highway 313 into Fort Smith. The operator was presumed to be operating under the influence, almost driving off the road, and failed to yield to the ranger, eventually pulling into a residence off the highway. A second ranger arrived as back-up. The seriously intoxicated male driver was contacted, and proved to be both uncooperative and aggressive towards the rangers. One ranger deployed her taser while the second gave verbal commands to the man. The man moved away from the rangers, picked up a three-foot-long wooden fence post that was connected to strands of barbed wire, then turned towards and squared off in front of the ranger who was giving the verbal commands. As he began to raise the fence post, he was tasered by the second ranger. Both probes hit and incapacitated him. He was then handcuffed and taken into custody. Charges are pending.
CHICKASAW NATIONAL RECREATION AREA
Taser Employed To End Confrontation With Barricaded Man
The Murray County Sheriff’s Department contacted the park early on the afternoon of March 14th and asked for help in a high speed pursuit. Ranger Dale Culver responded. While en route, Culver learned that the Oklahoma Highway Patrol had executed a police interdiction technique to stop the car, resulting in an accident eight miles from the park’s boundary. Culver was also informed that the operator had barricaded himself in his vehicle and that he was armed with a night stick and a large knife. When he arrived on scene, he found officers from three other agencies holding the man at gunpoint. Culver was the only one with a taser, which is standard issue at Chickasaw, so tried to end the confrontation by tasering him through an open window in the truck. Culver couldn’t hit him, though, so a second window was broken out. This time Culver got in a clear shot. The man still refused to drop the knife, so Culver fired it again. This time the man complied and was taken into custody without further incident. Numerous charges are pending against the man, including assault on a state officer with a deadly weapon. A follow-up investigation revealed that the man intended to fight to avoid arrest. Officers credited the taser with preventing serious injury or loss of life in the confrontation.
Bill's Note: remember, particularly in the second case, that the TASER is an adjunct to, and not a replacement of, other force options. Should the TASER have failed or not been effective and the situation escalated, someone needed to be ready to employ another tactic or force tool.
