POLICE DEPARTMENT

City of
Bellevue

NEWS RELEASE

Bl:lk\ll<: PoliCt' Lkpartmcnt

J<lmc~

Montgomery - Chief of PoJlt:e

}'OR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 8/1/20013:34 PM
CONTACT: Officer Marcia Harnden 425-452-4129 Pager (206) 541-0534

Police successfully use ADVANCED TASER to disable
mentally ill man in 5-hour standoff.
Bellevue, Washingtonj August 1, 2001: On June 24th , 2001 at about 9:20 AM, Bellevue Police
responded to a suspicious man call at 1056 IOS th Ave NE. After a 5-hour stand off, the mentally
ill man was taken into custody with very minor injuries. He was taken to Harborview Medical
Center for evaluation.
The call began with a 911 call from a neighbor stating that the man was throwing water
around and had been displaying a hatchet. When Bellevue Police officers arrived on the call and
tried to contact the man, he failed to comply. He seemed incoherent and agitated. Officers
stayed back and continued to try to communicate with the male. He did not respond to their
requests. The man armed himself at various times with a knife and other sharp objects. There
was no one else in the apartment. Bellevue Police Hostage Negotiators responded and tried
unsuccessfully for a few hours to establish contact with the 50-year-old male. A family member
told police that he had just been put on some new medication. King County Mental Health
Professionals called to the scene by police advised that the medication was not working and they
doubted that his mental state would improve. He was becoming an increasing danger to himself.
At 2: 15PM, an audible siren was used to distract the man and officers entered the
apartment with a master key. The male was ordered to lie down. He was highly agitated and did
not comply. Officers then fired an ADVANCED TASER M26 to disable the man. He was again
ordered to comply. He did not. The ADVANCED TASER was applied again. Again the male
did not comply. After using it a third time, the male got on the ground as instructed. He was
then taken into custody. He was transported by Bellevue Fire Aid I to Harborview Medical
Center for evaluation. He suffered scrapes and bruises incurred during the entire incident.
This is the first application where the ADVANCED TASER M26 was fired at a suspect.
The ADVANCED TASER was highly successful in disabling the suspect without injuring him
or officers.

Police Dept offices are located at 11511 Main Street, Bellevue, WA 98004

www.bellevuepolice.net

KING COUNTY JOURNAL
Tasers help subdue agitated man· Nonlethal weapon used by
Bellevue police for first time during standoff
2001-07-25
by eel S. Brady
Journal Reponer
BELLEVUE -- Newly acquired nonlethal weapons helped subdue a mentally ill man yesterday
who held police off from inside his downtown Bellevue apartment for more than five hours.
Bellevue officers fired electrically charged Tasee guns at a 50-year·oJd Bellevue man three times
aflee he ignored commands to lay down, police spokeswoman Marcia Hamden said.
With the third 26-volt jolt, the man dropped to the ground. He was taken 10 Harborview Medical
Center in Seattle.
h was the first time Bellevue officers fired their new Taser guns.
The standoff began shortly after 9:20 a.m., when a neighbor called 911 to report the man was
throwing water and brandishing a hatchet at his Bellevue Villa apartment located at 1065 108th
Ave. N.E., across the street from the Rosalie Whyel Museum of Doll Art.
No one reported the man ever making direct threats, but they said he was clearly agitated and
incoherent.
Police arrived at the apartment building and evacuated it, while negotiators tried to contact the
man in person and over the telephone.
Hamden said the man ignored police and SWAT-team negotiators for five hours. During that
time, officers observed the man inside his apartment, at times holding the hatchet, a butcher knife
and an open pockel knife.
For nearly two hours, negotiators used a loud repetitive siren in an attemplto wear the man down
and encourage him to give himself up.
Meanwhile, Hamden said, King County mental health professionals arrived and assessed the
situation. Family members of the holed-up man told them he recently had started new
medication, and his actions may have resulted from an adverse reaction.
The mental health experts then surmised that the man's condition most likely wouldn't improve
any lime soon. With that information, Harnden said, officers entered the man's apartment abOUl
2:30 p.m. using a master key provided by the building manager.
Harnden said the man, who has a history of mental illness, was loaded into an aid car after he
collapsed from the Taser gun shots.
"The Taser worked exactly as it should have," she said.
In October, the Bellevue Police Depanment purchased eight $400 M26 Taser guns to use as a
nonlethal alternative for subduing potentially violent suspects. More than 30 Bellevue officers
have since been trained to use the guns on violent suspects who aren'1 wielding firearms.
The Tasers fire two small dans attached to copper wires that can travel up to 20 yards. The
electrical shock is capable of disabling subjects long enough for officers to restrain them without
seriously injuring them.
The man in yesterday's standoff was taken away with only a few minor scrapes and bruises,
Harnden said. He was admitted into the Harborview psychiatric ward for observation.
Most likely, she said, he will not face any criminal charges.
"The whole approach or strategy was to wait him out and wear him down," Hamden said. "The
Taser allowed us to apprehend him without serious injury to him or any officers."
Noel Brady can be reached at noel.brady@eastsidejournal.com or 425-453-4252.

IlIlfll, WA
POIT -IHTElUOEHCER
8'lttll- Everett
M.l Al..

D166.7~

Wldnlllll,

JUL

25. 2001

11I1I11U III III 1111111111 111I11U 111111
•

flllJ[lIa'REH cu~~.~:~

BRIEFS
TiW!rs used to subdue

disturbed Eastside man
BEllEVUE - Bellevue police yesterday for the first time used tasers [Q
subdue a suspect. ending a five-hour
standoff with a 50-year-old mentally
disturbed man who had holed up in
his apanment with a knife.
The incident began about 9:20
a.m., when a resident at the apart·
ment building at 1056 loath Ave. E.
reported that a neighbor was throwing water around and brandishing a
hatchet.
Appearing agitated and incoher-

ent, the man ignored officers' attempts to contact him in the apartment, and at times, anned himself
with a knife and other objectS, police
said. Police finally used a siren to distract the man, while officers entered
his apartment with a master key.
When the man refused to comply
with their orders, officers fired and
stud, him several times with a taserprongs attached to copper wire that

are shot from a gunlike instrument
and emit electrical shocks.

After the third strike, the man
complied and was taken into custody, I
police said.

I
PQlice reponed no injuries, but

the man was taken to Harborview

Medical Center for observation. The
man had recently been put on new
medication.