Trooper gets hit with own Taser

A woman who fought with a Utah Highway Patrol trooper on Saturday managed to use the trooper's Taser on him.

The trooper, suspecting a truck to be stolen, pulled it over near 1800 W. North Temple about 7 p.m. He attempted to arrest the female passenger, but the woman became belligerent, said UHP Sgt. Jeff Nigbur, and began fighting with the trooper, even drawing blood while hitting him with her shoe and biting him.

When the trooper tried to use his Taser, it didn't fire, Nigbur said, so he discarded it. But during the course of the fight, the woman picked it up.

She struck the trooper with the Taser, emitting a shock known as a "dry stun," Nigbur said.

A dry stun doesn't have the same effect as deploying the Taser's electrodes, he said, which deliver a shock to larger muscles of the body.

The trooper fought back, using his baton to rain blows on the woman.

A K-9 officer arrived as backup and let his dog take the woman down. But even in handcuffs, the woman continued to fight, and the backup trooper deployed his Taser to collapse the woman, Nigbur said.

By that time, the male driver of the truck had fled the scene, but he was arrested by Salt Lake police a short time later.

The injured trooper was taken to the hospital but is expected to be OK, Nigbur said. The woman was also taken to a hospital for treatment.

— Joseph M. Dougherty