Police use Taser gun to nab suspect

By Kim Rahn

Police have apprehended a drunken man behaving violently by using a Taser gun.

Officials at Yeongdeungpo Police Station sought an arrest warrant for the 43-year-old day laborer, identified as Kang, Friday on suspicions of interfering with police duties and injuring a police officer.

Kang allegedly had a quarrel with an owner of a PC room in central Seoul around 9:30 p.m. Thursday, claiming he was being ignored.

After making a disturbance, he went out and bought two knives at a nearby supermarket, according to police.

“Witnesses said that Kang thrust the knives into the hood of a car parked nearby and headed for the PC room in a temper. Workers at the PC room blocked the door of the premises to prevent Kang from entering,” a policeman said.

Seven officers were dispatched and decided to apprehend him by using a stun gun as Kang has a rather large build and was quite drunk and not listening to anybody, the policeman added.

Kang fell down once immobilized from the shot in the thigh. Undeterred he kept wielding the knives while lying on the ground, and inflicted a 4-centimeter gash to the hand of a sergeant with one of the knives.

“We used the police weapon appropriately according to the guidelines. In dealing with armed suspects, we’ll exercise our duty sternly by using the appropriate weapons,” the policeman said.

The use of a stun gun comes about three months after National Police Agency Commissioner General Cho Hyun-oh encouraged police officers to use guns actively if necessary, following a series of cases where criminals attacked unarmed officers.

“What’s important is we need a strict rule so that police officers can use guns in the right way. That’s to protect citizens,” he said.

Civic groups opposed, claiming it would cause accidents and an overuse of weapons. Since Korean police’s adoption of Taser guns in 2004, they have also doubted the safety of the devices.