Drunk and violent man told police: ‘Taser me!’

NEW YEAR’S EVE INCIDENT ENDED WHEN 50,000 V WERE FIRED IN FRIEND’S HOUSE

AN out-of-control man drunkenly invited the police to “Taser” him.

Officers had unsuccessfully tried to calm James White down as he waved scissors and a knife around in a friend’s kitchen.

But when he looked as if he was about to throw a vodka bottle at them, they resorted to activating the machine which instantly put him on the floor.

Leicester Crown Court was told that in the ensuing struggle with officers, one of them was injured by a knife White had tucked into his clothing.

Joey Kwong, prosecuting, said White was good friends of a married couple, who received a text message from him in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

He said his girlfriend was throwing him out of the house - and they kindly sent a taxi to bring him to their home at about 3am.

However, White was so drunk he became paranoid and was “behaving oddly,” claiming that iPads and mobile phones were spying on him and was repeatedly pulling doors shut.

He told the couple, whose children were upstairs: “Help, I know what you’re going to do to me.”

White, 28, continued bizarrely.

He went into the kitchen and got a knife and was “ramming” it into a wall.

He asked the couple to open the doors wide before throwing a bottle outside and was continually switching the microwave oven on and off. behaving

The householders were so concerned they took their children to a neighbour’s home and police were called.

By the time officers arrived he had barricaded himself into the kitchen, with the freezer blocking the door.

Mr Kwong said: “He was saying ‘I need help.’”

When officers entered the kitchen, they saw White with a black-handled kitchen knife in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other. He kept raising and lowering them.

“He was told he was being arrested under suspicion of causing an affray,” said Mr Kwong.

“He repeatedly invited the officers to Taser him.”

They showed the Taser to him, saying it delivered 50,000 volts, but he continued behaving erratically.

Mr Kwong said: “He picked up a bottle of vodka and held it up. The officers thought he was going to throw it at them and he was Tasered. He ended up on his back on the kitchen floor.”

It took three officers to restrain him and during a struggle on the floor a female officer suffered a puncture wound to her leg.