Anne Arundel County police have reported three officer-involved shootings so far this year compared to five in the last three years, which has raised the debate on whether police should use Taser stun guns.
Earlier this spring, the Anne Arundel County Council legalized Taser stun guns, and left it up to Police Chief Tom Shanahan to decide whether to issue them to officers.
Detective Sara Schriver, a police spokeswoman, said the department was “still in the research investigative stage,” and had not decided whether to purchase the weapons that use an electrical charge to temporarily incapacitate suspects without the threat of bodily harm.
Stun gun opponents say the weapons are dangerous, especially for individuals with certain medical conditions.
“As far as the shootings this week, there is no way possible that a Taser could?ve been used in these cases,” said O?Brien Atkinson, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 70, which represents Anne Arundel County police officers. “When you?ve got someone pointing a rifle at you, using a Taser would be foolish.”
In 2005, an Anne Arundel County police officer fatally shot Donald Coates, 20, after Coates called 911 saying someone was trying to kill him. A grand jury cleared the officer of criminal responsibility in September 2005. The department reported two officer-involved shootings in both 2003 and 2004, according to Schriver.
More recently, two police shooting incidents occurred in Baltimore City and Crownsville this week. In both cases, police department officials said the use of deadly force was justified, and likely the only way to preserve the safety of the officers.
“One incident involved a high-powered rifle, and the other involved a motor vehicle,” Schriver said. “They were serious enough situations to warrant the use of deadly force.”
Schriver said officers are trained to use a “continuum of force” when confronted with violent or uncooperative suspects. The six-level system ranges from physical presence to verbal commands up to deadly force.
Ricky Alan Brown, 49, was shot Tuesday after officers responded to a complaint of a possibly suicidal man at a Crownsville home. When police arrived, Brown confronted them with a rifle and was shot when he refused to put it down.
A Baltimore City man was shot Thursday after he allegedly attempted to run down Anne Arundel and Baltimore City police officers with a car.
