WASHINGTON, Oct. 17, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- TASER International, Inc. (Nasdaq:TASR), a market leader in advanced electronic control devices, released the following News Alert:
According to news reports from the Taunton Gazette in Massachusetts, an unidentified Walpole man was taken to a local hospital for psychological evaluation early Monday morning after an unsuccessful suicide-by-cop attempt. State police received 17 calls from the 26-year-old man starting around 3:00 a.m., all claiming he was armed with a gun and a knife and planned to kill himself and anyone who tried to stop him. The man did not give a location.
Policed tracked the man's cell phone signal to the Freetown Town Hall where they found the man in the parking lot inside a car. Four Freetown officers were able to distract the man, allowing Sgt. Elton Ashley to break a car window and deploy his TASER device to subdue the man. Inside the car, police found a bottle of anti-depressants and later learned that the man had taken 30 pills throughout the day. The man also told police that he was looking to commit suicide by having an officer shoot and kill him.
This was the first time a Freetown officer had used a TASER device since April when the department became equipped with the law enforcement tool. "It was appropriately used and the crisis was resolved without serious injury," said Chief Carlton Abbott.
This information was compiled through publicly available media reports and distributed by Dittus Communications, Inc. of Washington, D.C.
TASER International, Inc. and Dittus Communications, Inc. disclaim any responsibility for the accuracy of the media reports that are the sole responsibility of the attributed media source.
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