Millinocket police to seek funding to purchase taser

MILLINOCKET – Donald Bolduc wants to be able to put the zap on people who act up.

The Millinocket police chief will ask the Town Council next week for funding to buy a taser, an electroshock gun also referred to as a stun gun, typically used by police to subdue a person with an electric shock that disrupts superficial muscle functions.

The council will consider the idea at its meeting on Nov. 28, Town Manager Eugene Conlogue said.

“It’s a good idea,” Conlogue said Tuesday. “It’s another tool for a police officer to use with an unruly suspect, and it’s nonlethal. We have had several incidents where a taser might have been effective.”

One incident, Conlogue said, occurred when it took as many as nine men, including Detective Ron McCarthy, to wrestle John Day, 52, into protective police custody on Sept. 5.

McCarthy saw him at about 10:15 a.m. dodging traffic in the middle of Central Street near Katahdin Nursing Home. Aware of Day’s history of schizophrenia and that he had been involved recently in two car accidents and an arson, McCarthy pleaded with Day to get into the cruiser for his own protection and had to tackle him when he started to run.

Day was so unruly that McCarthy had to radio and beseech passers-by Warren Nelson, an off-duty reserve policeman, an East Millinocket police officer, three or four present or former town firefighters, including Steve Campbell, Tom Little and Addison Matthews, and several others for help. No other town police were on duty.

Day and the others narrowly avoided getting hit by traffic several times during the incident. No one was injured. Day remains hospitalized, police said.

“That’s a classic case where a taser might have helped,” Conlogue said.

If the council votes to approve the idea, Millinocket police would join East Millinocket police, who have two tasers among their nine officers, East Millinocket Sgt. Michael Davis said. Bangor and Hampden police are among the municipal departments around the state that have them. Lincoln police do not.

When used properly and under the right conditions, tasers are effective tools for subduing someone with little relative harm to suspects and no harm to police, Bangor police Lt. Jeff Millard said.

“We have had good luck with them, but they are just a tool. They are not the end-all,” Millard said Tuesday of the half-dozen tasers Bangor patrol officers have on hand.

Like pepper spray, which can be rendered ineffective by high winds, tasers require officers to get relatively close to violent suspects and can be fouled by bad conditions, Millard said. Heavy drug consumption or clothing can impede a taser’s effectiveness.

Another problem: The effect of their electric charge lasts five or six seconds. That’s fine, if officers can handcuff a suspect in that time, but if not, “you’re in the fight again,” Millard said.

Bolduc and Conlogue anticipate spending about $1,200 to $1,300, with council approval. Conlogue will recommend that the council vote to appropriate funding for half that amount, with police working with civic groups to raise the money for the rest, he said.

The council meets at 4:30 p.m.