TASER SHOCKS POLICEMAN, TEEN SUSPECT

Gallatin Officers Use Stun Weapon While Trying To Subdue Juvenile, Chief Says

GALLATIN -- At least one police officer and a 17-year-old drug
suspect were zapped with a Taser gun during a scuffle Tuesday night
as officers pursuing the teen tried to subdue him with the weapon,
authorities said.

The incident began about 8 p.m. Tuesday, when police stopped two men
and the juvenile, [Name redacted], on Hill Street, an area police say
has seen regular narcotics traffic.

One man fled as the juvenile tried to pull away, and one officer
tried to subdue the juvenile with a Taser, Police Chief John Tisdale said.

"The first time it hit his jacket, didn't penetrate," he said. "He
came out of his jacket and started to run off."

Two officers made a grab for Garrett, and the Taser was deployed
again. One of the probes on the device gave one officer a bit of a
shock, Tisdale said.

At one point, all three fell to the ground. Officer Adam Bennett
injured his head when he fell, causing him to lose consciousness.
Officer Dustin Rush was kicked in the jaw by the youth, who weighs
more than 200 pounds, and Rush became disoriented, according to
police. Both officers have been treated and released from Sumner
Regional Medical Center.

Tisdale said he did not know yesterday which officer took the hit
from the Taser because both of them are off-duty, recuperating.

Taser use has been under increased scrutiny in the Midstate since a
21-year-old man died in September after being shocked 19 times by
Metro police. Tisdale, though, rated the Taser as a "wonderful
weapon" that saves lives and does little damage to suspects, in the
absence of a complicating factor such as drug use. He said the
Gallatin department has used the devices for 1 1/2 years.

"I can think of several incidents where if we didn't have the Taser
we would have had to shoot somebody," he said.

In Tuesday night's incident, a third officer, Michael Sexton, got
control of [Name redacted] and arrested him. Police charged the teen
with three counts of aggravated assault, one count of resisting
arrest and one count of possession of a Schedule VI drug, marijuana.
He was taken to the hospital for observation and was treated and released.

Police yesterday arrested [Name redacted]., 20, [address redacted],
on charges of resisting arrest and fleeing, Tisdale said.

The second adult at the scene, [Name redacted]., 19, [address
redacted], was questioned and cleared. He left the area but then
returned and was arrested for disorderly conduct Tuesday night, the
chief said. His father, [Name redacted], 54, also was charged with
disorderly conduct.

Claims on the scene that [Name redacted] never tried to flee were
dispelled by a videotape, Tisdale said.

"The greatest thing we ever did was when we put cameras in cars," he said.

Residents file constant complaints about narcotics sales in the area
where the incident unfolded, near Hill and North Ford Street area, he
said. A total of 111 adults were arrested there in 2005, according to
police information. Of those, 36 were drug arrests. Two juveniles
were arrested there last year on drug-related charges. Those were
part of the increased number of narcotic arrests, which were up by
25% last year in the city, Tisdale said. At the same time, crime
rates fell. Preliminary figures for Gallatin in 2005 show a 13% drop
in crimes against persons and a 20% decline in property crimes, which
includes burglaries and shoplifting.