Taser

Two young men were robbed by a group of four in Laurel Saturday night, and one of the victims may have been stunned by an electronic device similar to a Taser, Anne Arundel County police reported. Police said they responded about 11 p.m. to a report that two men, aged 18 and 20, had been robbed near Marcey Creek Road and Russett Green West. The victims told police they had stopped their car in the area because they were having mechanical trouble and decided to look at the engine.

Anne Arundel County Executive Laura Neuman said Tuesday that she'll sign a bill legalizing the use of Tasers and stun guns in the county. The County Council passed the bill on a 4-3 vote Monday night. Previously, only police officers could use the devices in Anne Arundel. In a statement, Neuman said she thinks Tasers are a "lawful option for self-protection" under the Second Amendment. She also drew on her experience as a rape survivor, and said she hoped people might be able to use Tasers in self-defense.

Baltimore County Police on Sunday identifed the man an officer shot and killed a man who they said wielded a knife at an officer and couldn't be stopped with a Taser.  Authorities said Gregory Stegall, 36, took out a knife when an officer approached him behind a gas station near Catonsville at about 3:30 am Sunday. Police said Stegall had looked suspicious and refused to come out from the building, which was near Edmondson Avenue and North Bend Road. They said the officer shot Stegall a single time after he did not heed requests to drop the knife, an effort to shock him with a Taser failed and Stegall continued to advance while pointing the knife at the officer.

It will soon be legal to own a Taser or stun gun in Anne Arundel County, following a vote by the County Council on Monday. Council members voted 4-3 to legalize the devices, which use an electric shock to disable another person. The bill was sponsored by Councilman Derek Fink, a Pasadena Republican who had argued that Tasers are a good way for people to protect themselves, especially if they don't want to own a gun. "It's going to give them another viable option to protect themselves, their families and their property," Fink said.

Four days after being issued Tasers, Anne Arundel County police made their first move to use the stun gun, but their target surrendered once he realized he was about to be jolted, police said yesterday. Officers called to the 7500 block of Moraine Drive in Hanover at 5:55 p.m. June 5 found a man, suspected of having psychiatric problems, wielding a knife, police said. Told that the man had threatened to harm himself or others if approached, officers said they would use the Taser on him if he did not drop the knife, police said.

A Middle River family who alleges a Baltimore County officer used excessive force with a Taser has a second chance in court after the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday partially reversed an earlier decision to throw out their federal suit. Ryan Meyers' family sued after the 40-year-old died when Baltimore County police responded to his home for a domestic violence call in 2007. Three officers entered the home and one tasered Meyers 10 times because police said he refused to listen to the officers and drop a baseball bat. But Meyers' family said he fell to the ground and was no longer resisting arrest when the officer continued to taser him unnecessarily.

Shootings in elementary schools. Violent flash mobs in malls. Robberies, home invasions, muggings. With such crimes reported around the United States, and the media giving them around-the-clock attention, it's no wonder ordinary Americans are feeling more vulnerable than ever. So says Anne Arundel County Councilman Derek Fink, a Pasadena Republican who introduced a bill this month that would allow county residents to carry Tasers and stun guns as a way of defending themselves.

A man who said a Baltimore police officer strip-searched him on a public street and used a Taser on him twice while he was in handcuffs has agreed to settle a civil suit he filed against the city and is being offered $95,000. The settlement awaits approval by the Board of Estimates, the city's spending panel, which scheduled the item for Wednesday. The amount is listed in court records and on the Board of Estimates' agenda. Donte T. Harris sued Officer Babatunda Orlsadelle after he was arrested in April 2007 while walking to a store on Woodbine Avenue in West Baltimore.

An man died Saturday after police in Prince George's County used a Taser to subdue him, police officials said yesterday. Seat Pleasant and Fairmount Heights police were called to the 6800 block of Greig St. east of Fairmount Heights about 3:30 p.m. after receiving reports of a fight between a man and a woman. Prince George's County police were called to help transport the man, said spokeswoman Cpl. Debbie Carlson. When the man became combative, police used a Taser to subdue him and he died at Prince George's County Hospital Center in Cheverly about an hour later, Carlson said.

Baltimore police have released the identity of a suspect who died after he was incapacitated with a Taser during an incident in West Baltimore's Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood early Saturday morning. Police said Thomas Campbell, 50, of the 1000 block of McAleer Court was pronounced dead at Bon Secours Hospital shortly after he was subdued with a Taser, a device that delivers a 50,000-volt shock. Officers apprehended Campbell after receiving a report that a man was running amok in the 1000 block of N. Payson St. Police say they have used Tasers 14 times this year, and Campbell is the third fatality.

A man who police said was acting erratically died Friday night in Gaithersburg after he refused officers' orders and was struck with a Taser. Police were called to the 8800 block of Cross County Pl. at about 6:10 p.m. for a report of a 51-year-old man "acting strangely" - standing in a parked pickup truck, yelling, and crawling on other vehicles. Officers who arrived on the scene said he jumped onto an SUV and continued to act strangely, and the officer hit him with pepper spray, police said.

Shootings in elementary schools. Violent flash mobs in malls. Robberies, home invasions, muggings. With such crimes reported around the United States, and the media giving them around-the-clock attention, it's no wonder ordinary Americans are feeling more vulnerable than ever. So says Anne Arundel County Councilman Derek Fink, a Pasadena Republican who introduced a bill this month that would allow county residents to carry Tasers and stun guns as a way of defending themselves.

A Middle River family who alleges a Baltimore County officer used excessive force with a Taser has a second chance in court after the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday partially reversed an earlier decision to throw out their federal suit. Ryan Meyers' family sued after the 40-year-old died when Baltimore County police responded to his home for a domestic violence call in 2007. Three officers entered the home and one tasered Meyers 10 times because police said he refused to listen to the officers and drop a baseball bat. But Meyers' family said he fell to the ground and was no longer resisting arrest when the officer continued to taser him unnecessarily.

Baltimore County Police on Sunday identifed the man an officer shot and killed a man who they said wielded a knife at an officer and couldn't be stopped with a Taser.  Authorities said Gregory Stegall, 36, took out a knife when an officer approached him behind a gas station near Catonsville at about 3:30 am Sunday. Police said Stegall had looked suspicious and refused to come out from the building, which was near Edmondson Avenue and North Bend Road. They said the officer shot Stegall a single time after he did not heed requests to drop the knife, an effort to shock him with a Taser failed and Stegall continued to advance while pointing the knife at the officer.

Anne Arundel County police arrested a Glen Burnie man after they responded to a caller telling them that his mother was being held at gunpoint by a former boyfriend, police said. Anne Arundel County police arrested a Glen Burnie man after they responded to a 21-year-old caller telling them that his mother was being held at gunpoint by a former boyfriend, police said. Police said that at about 10 p.m. Friday, they received a call saying that the 38-year-old woman was being held in a bedroom of a home in 200 block of Maryland Avenue by an ex-boyfriend, police said.

A Baltimore County man suffered a "diabetic attack," causing him to act abnormally when police tried to restrain him and then pepper sprayed and Tasered him, resulting in his death, according to a multimillion-dollar lawsuit brought by his wife against county and state police. Linda Johnson says her husband, Carl D'Andre Johnson, who died shortly after he fought with officers two years ago, "would experience an episode of low blood sugar [and] he would have some difficulty, sometimes acting erratically, and would react negatively to being touched," in a suit filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court last month.

A 43-year-old Northeast Baltimore woman died after a city police officer fired his Taser at her when she attacked him, a police spokesman said yesterday. The officer, identified by the department as Irving Hinkson, 40, a 10-year veteran and member of the SWAT team, was in the rear of the 3300 block of Belair Road doing drug surveillance Tuesday. About 10 p.m., he saw a man who he believed was carrying drugs and chased him, police said. The man threw the drugs and ran off. "As he was going to recover the drugs, this woman jumps him and starts fighting with him," said Matt Jablow, a city police spokesman.

The chief state medical examiner said yesterday that he is unable to rule out the possibility that a jolt from a Taser stun gun contributed to the death of a Baltimore County man two months ago. Ryan Lee Meyers, 40, died March 18 after a county police officer stunned him with the weapon. Meyers is one of four people in Maryland to die this year after officers fired a Taser, which is often praised as a safer way for police to subdue a violent person. "I cannot absolutely exclude the Taser from having some effect," said Dr. David Fowler, the medical examiner.

Former Ravens Pro Bowler Jermaine Lewis was arrested Thursday in Baltimore County for driving on a suspended license, an arrest that comes two months before he is due in court for a reckless driving charge from last year. Police said Lewis, who returned a kickoff for a touchdown in the team's 2001 Super Bowl victory, was seen driving a Dodge Charger with his 4-year-old son unrestrained in the front seat just before 10 a.m. near Hanover Pike and Mt. Gilead Road in Reisterstown. The officer conducted a traffic stop and saw that Lewis' license had been revoked, and placed him under arrest, police said.

Former Ravens player Jermaine Lewis, who returned a kickoff for a touchdown in the team's 2001 Super Bowl victory, has been charged with driving recklessly and resisting arrest after police said an officer had to use a Taser to subdue him. Police said witnesses followed Lewis' vehicle Monday evening and reported that it was swerving and had run over a volunteer fire company sign before it turned into the player's home on Pleasant Grove Road in...