A Hoonah Police Department officer working for the Haines Borough used a Taser and pepper spray against a 26-year-old man in front of the post office Monday after the man allegedly assaulted the officer after attacking a 20-year-old woman.
According to court documents, after police booked the man, they found a pipe that tested positive for amphetamines.
The man is charged with assaulting a peace officer, fourth-degree assault and resisting arrest.
Officer Jordan Welch responded to the call just before midnight, when he saw the man lying on top of a woman with his right forearm and elbow on top of her face. When Welch pointed his Taser at the man, who refused to get on the ground and repeatedly put his hands in his pockets, the man grabbed the woman and used her as a shield.
Welch deployed the Taser and it connected with the man’s chest, but the man continued to resist and broke the Taser’s conductive wires and tried to tackle the officer.
Welch managed to get handcuffs on the man, who started kicking Welch in the legs. After Welch got him on the ground, the man managed to get back up and charge again, causing Welch to pepper spray the man’s face.
The man continued to resist arrest and attempted to spit on Welch until backup arrived.
At the clinic, the woman involved had swelling and bruising on her eye socket and bleeding lips. She said she had been speaking with the man in the stairwell of a nearby business, and the man grabbed her face and slammed her head against the wall. When she tried to run away, he chased her and threw her to the ground.
When asked later what his intentions were when charging Welch, he said he wanted to “win the fight.”
The man had been living temporarily in Haines, but is from Petersburg.
He was arraigned in Haines District Court Tuesday. He is being held on $5,000 bail. If the man is released and remains in Haines, he is required to have a third-party custodian. A third-party custodian is court-approved person who agrees to keep the defendant under 24-hour supervision.
Welch is working temporarily in Haines due to a staffing shortage at the local department.