Multiple officers used tazers to subdue a Pine Bluff man who reportedly was throwing furniture out of a house and tried to cut himself Monday afternoon.
Shawn Hence, 35, was taken into custody after police forced their way inside the house at 1415 S. Locust St. when one of the officers reported seeing Hence trying to cut himself with some type of object.
Officer April Tirado reported that she was sent to the area of 14th Avenue and Locust Street at about 5 p.m. in response to a reported disturbance and saw Hence coming out of the residence in his underwear. Tirado reported Hence clinched his fists when she got out of her police car and started spitting and walking toward her.
After warning Hence to stop walking toward her, Tirado reported using her tazer several times with no effect, and Hence was able to pull the prongs out before he turned and ran back inside the house.
Officer Christopher Powell reported that he, Officer Mike Sweeney and Officer Patrick Saffold entered the house and located Hence lying in bed covered with a blanket. When Hence refused the officers’ commands to show his hands, Powell and Sweeney used their tazers in an attempt to get Hence to comply and roll over so he could be handcuffed, Powell said.
Powell reported that the tazers appeared to have no effect on Hence and it took several officers to pry Hence’s hands out from under him and get handcuffs on him.
Sweeney reported that Hence was physically carried to a stretcher and taken to Jefferson Regional Medical Center by ambulance where the tazer prongs were removed, and then to the adult jail where he was held on probable cause of aggravated assault on a police officer and criminal mischief pending an expected court appearance in Jefferson County District Court Wednesday morning.