Ventura County Sheriff's Department

Sheriff’s deputies responded to a call of a suicidal subject at a residence in the 4300 block of N. Ventura Avenue at approximately 10:20 a.m. on Monday, May 19, 2008. The family called for assistance out of concern for the subject’s well being, which included the fact that he had armed himself with two knives. The subject left the residence prior to arrival of the deputies. The surrounding area was thoroughly searched, but he was not located.
Approximately two and one half hours later (12:52 p.m.), the individual returned to the residence, and deputies were called back to the scene. When the deputies made contact, the individual was holding the knives, which forced the deputies to draw their handguns. The situation permitted one deputy to later transition to his TASER. A less-lethal (beanbag) shotgun was also brought to the scene in the event it was needed.

A tense standoff occurred, which included the subject threatening the deputies by indicating that the knives he was holding were capable of penetrating Kevlar (the material used in bullet-proof vests). The deputies continued talking to the subject trying to convince him to drop the knives while still attempting to maintain their own safety.

At one point, the subject began using one of the knives in such a way that led the deputies to believe he was going cause imminent harm to himself. The TASER was effectively deployed incapacitating the subject but not to the point where he would release the knife. A second TASER cycle was delivered, and he released the knife and was taken into custody.

Other than being temporarily incapacitated by the TASER, the subject was not injured during the incident. He was transported to a local hospital as part of a standard protocol following a TASER deployment. He was booked at the Pre-Trial Detention Facility for a felony charge of resisting an officer as well as an outstanding misdemeanor warrant. His bail is set at $15,000.

Situations involving suspects with weapons are highly unpredictable and often require split-second decisions on the part of officers. The Sheriff’s Department believes, and statistics have proven, that the TASER is a highly effective tool in reducing injuries to officers and suspects. Although officers are not expected nor encouraged to jeopardize their safety when confronting armed suspects, in some cases (as this case illustrates), the TASER can be effectively utilized even where officers are confronted with a deadly weapon. The outcome of this situation is always desired but not always possible. There will, of course, be incidents where the threat to officers is such that the use of a TASER may not be possible.