SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Sept. 7, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- TASER International, Inc. (Nasdaq:TASR), a market leader in advanced electronic control devices, released the following News Alert:
According to reports from The Sun Chronicle, Attleboro police in Massachusetts were able to prevent a suicidal 50 year-old woman living in a group home in Massachusetts from further harming herself.
Police responded to the woman's 911 call that she had already cut her wrists. When officers arrived, the woman was bleeding from the arms and hands and confronted police with a razor knife in her hand. When the dispatcher learned the wound was self-inflicted, the woman turned irate and threatened to harm herself further if police came, Detective Lieutenant John Otrando said.
"She said, 'I'll slit my throat. I'll slit my throat'," Otrando said.
When officers arrived at the group home, the 300-pound woman came from behind her door, bleeding from the arms and hands, Otrando said. The woman held a purse in her right hand and the razor knife in her left hand when she confronted officers Gilbert Bechtel, Edward Gingras and Larry Velino, Otrando said. The woman dropped the purse and then lifted her shirt before raising the blade up, Otrando said.
"She brought the blade up and attempted to slice her stomach with the razor knife," Otrando said.
Before the woman was able to cut herself again, Bechtel deployed his TASER X26 at the woman, Otrando said.
Attleboro police have had them since last June and have used them successfully, Otrando said.
In September last year, police used a TASER on a 44-year-old suicidal woman who threatened to kill herself and threatened officers with a knife.
The woman involved in Wednesday's incident was taken to Sturdy Memorial Hospital for the self-inflicted wounds and for a mental crisis evaluation, Otrando said.
This information was compiled through publicly available media reports and distributed by TASER International, Inc.
TASER International, Inc. disclaims any responsibility for the accuracy of the media reports that are the sole responsibility of the attributed media source.
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