Man tries to break into police station

‘You don’t hear that a lot,’ says neighbour after suspect Tasered just outside door

It sounds like a scene from a Canadian version of a reality television show that could be called America’s Dumbest Criminals.

A chain-wielding man was Tasered after smashing a glass door and trying to enter the London police station Thursday morning. Allison Gibson, who lives across the street from police headquarters, and some of her neighbours saw the confrontation between the man and police officers outside the building at 601 Dundas St. around 1a.m. “We just found it funny that somebody was breaking into the police station. You don’t hear that a lot,” Gibson said.

The man used a chain to smash the exit door near the entrance and was trying to enter the building, police said.

“Officers attended the scene from both inside and outside the building,” Const. Sandasha Bough said.

“The man was in possession of a chain. He was asked to drop the chain, and when he refused to do so a Taser was successfully deployed and he was arrested.” Surveillance video of the incident shows a shirtless, shoeless man being handcuffed just metres from the broken door. “There were cop cars everywhere last night, a lot officers out here,” Gibson said. “They had an ambulance to make sure he (the suspect) is OK.”

The neighbourhood around the police station sees its share of crime, but this is a first, Gibson said.

Before breaking the door at the police station, the man smashed the front window of a nearby store on Adelaide Street and hit another building around the corner on Dundas Street, police said.

The smashed door was boarded up Thursday. Police estimated the damage at $3,000.

A Stratford man, 42, is charged with breaking and entering with intent, possession of a weapon and two counts of mischief under $5,000.

He was scheduled to appear in court Thursday.