Police use Taser on teen threatening suicide

The boy dropped the knife and fell after being struck by the Taser.

STAFF REPORT

BOARDMAN — Police said they used a Taser on a 17-year-old Glenwood Avenue boy to keep the boy from harming himself.

The boy went to his girlfriend’s home on Crestline Place about 9 p.m. Wednesday after believing the girl, 15, was involved with another boy. He spoke to the girl’s mother then went into the kitchen, pulled a kitchen knife from a drawer, placed it to his own throat and called police, saying he wanted to kill himself.

Police arrived, but the boy wouldn’t let anyone approach him, a police report said.

The boy told emergency personnel he had wanted to kill himself for a long time and he now had a good reason, the report said.

Police tried several times to persuade the boy to put the knife down and speak with them, but he refused. Sgt. John Allsopp used his Taser, causing the boy to drop the knife and fall.

Police handcuffed the 17-year-old without further problems. The boy was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center, Youngstown, for psychiatric evaluation. The boy also had small cuts on his throat from where he had pressed the knife.

Capt. Jack Nichols said the department’s Taser instructor, Sgt. Glen Riddle, planned to nominate Allsopp for a life-saving award through Taser International of Scottsdale, Ariz.

The company, however, said the award program no longer exists.

Nichols said the department has used Tasers since 2007.

Allsopp, hired in 1999, serves as traffic unit supervisor.