A man who stood in the street and shouted at passing drivers to
kill him late Wednesday night may have been off his medications,
according to Morgan Hill police.
A man who stood in the street and shouted at passing drivers to kill him late Wednesday night may have been off his medications, according to Morgan Hill police.
The 24-year-old man was reportedly in an argument with his mother in the Terracina Apartments and assaulted her before leaving the apartments and going on to the railroad tracks at the East Dunne Avenue intersection near the apartments.
He was lying down on the tracks, according to Morgan Hill police Cmdr. David Swing, threatening to commit sucide. He went out into the roadway on East Dunne Avenue and was yelling at passing vehicles to kill him.
Swing said the man was behaving “agressively and irrationally,” and he may have been intoxicated also. Officers were told that he had been taking different medications for mental issues, but had stopped taking them.
“We were not only concerned for his safety but also for the safety of everyone around him at that point,” he said.
The man was acting aggressive toward the first officer to arrive, refusing to comply with the officer’s commands and acting agitated, balling his hands into fists, Swing said. The officer hit him with a baton, but it did not have an effect on the man, who continued to refuse to comply. When a second officer arrived, one of the officers used his TASER on the man, and he was taken into custody.
Before he was taken for mental evaluation, Swing said, the man was medically cleared by paramedics.
“This is another example of the benefits of that type of weapon,” he added. “This is the second time a TASER has been used recently when an individual could have been injured or injured an officer. If two officers have to subdue someone without the TASER, they could cause serious injury to that person or themselves. If they try to subdue someone with a baton, there is the potential for long term injury. The TASER is an important tool in these kinds of situations.”
A San Jose man was tased twice by Morgan Hill police on Feb. 2 after an argument with his girlfriend at the Budget Inn on Monterey Road.
Lovell Turner, 40, was booked into Santa Clara County Jail for allegedly resisting arrest, for violation of a restraining order and probation violation.
Turner was reportedly behaving aggressively towards to officers, challenging them to fight and refusing to comply.
