Taser use aided S.L. police in 2 arrests

Two people were taken safely into custody during separate incidents Thursday night in Salt Lake City thanks to the use of Tasers.

Just before 11 p.m., officers looking for a parole fugitive at the Colonial Motel, 1530 S. Main, found the 35-year-old woman they were seeking.

After the woman opened the door and saw police she ran to the bathroom where she tried to crawl out a rear window, said Salt Lake City police detective Joe Cyr. When she saw additional officers running to the back, she went back into the motel room, confronted the officers and put her hand in her coat pocket and clinched her fist, Cyr said.

She later told police that she, "did not want to go back to prison and wanted the officers to shoot her," he said.

Instead, officers deployed a Taser and were able to take the woman into custody. Officers found the woman to be in possession of a knife.

About an hour later, an officer driving by Green Street Social Club, 602 E. 500 South, spotted a fight near the front door between security guards and two men.

When the officer ordered the men to stop fighting, one of them turned toward the officer, clinched his fists and took a fighting stance, Cyr said. The man was tased and arrested, he said. The second man complied with the officer's orders.

Both men were arrested for investigation of assault and public intoxication. The one man had an additional charge of resisting arrest.