Police Taser Incident, Caught on Video, Under Investigation

The video of an arrest in downtown Fredericksburg has the community talking.

At about 7:20 p.m. Saturday, several witnesses called 9-1-1 to report a gray Buick 4-door had struck and damaged five unoccupied cars parked in the 200 block of Hanover Street before the driver fled the scene on foot, said Natatia Bledsoe, Fredericksburg Police Department public information officer. 

The witnesses also reported that bystanders attempted to detain the passenger of the Buick until police arrived, but the subject was belligerent and made threats against them. 

The first officer on the scene located the Buick’s passenger at the corner of Hanover and Caroline streets, Bledsoe said. 

The video shows police Tasering the suspect after he tried to flee.  A witness posted the video on Fredericksburg Patch's Facebook page.

"The subject refused to comply with the officer’s commands and briefly attempted to flee until the officer deployed a Taser and took the subject into custody," Bledsoe said.

Lantz Day, 36, of Locust Grove, was subsequently arrested for obstruction of justice and incarcerated at the Rappahannock Regional Jail under a $3,500 bond. 

A police K-9 searched for the driver of the Buick, but that subject has not yet been identified or located. 

"Every use of force is investigated and we are looking into Saturday night's incident," Bledsoe said.  "We are reviewing the video and the totality of the incident with our use of force policy.  I cannot comment right now on this specific incident because it is under investigation."

The Fredericksburg Police Department has a policy governing the use of force in general and weapons, including the Taser X-26, in specific.  Section 302.00 states:

Use of Force – In any encounter where the use of force becomes necessary, only reasonable force will be used. Under no circumstances will force used be greater than necessary to achieve lawful objectives and to conduct lawful public safety activities.

In addition, the policy requires a supervisor to respond to any scene where a Taser has been used.  "The supervisor who responded Saturday was Lt. Mike Presutto, who was the on-duty Watch Commander," Bledsoe said.  "He is not seen in the video."

The use of force policy allows use of the Taser in two modes.  "In this case, the Taser was used in probe mode," Bledsoe said.

"Drive stun mode is when the user manually holds the Taser unit in contact with the subject," Bledsoe said. "Probe mode is used at a distance up to 21 feet; the Taser user shoots the two probes into the subject and the probes are designed to enter the skin and remain so the Taser user can deliver the shock remotely.  The probes are attached to the Taser with thin wires that extend out upon deployment."

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