Man Tasered near Hotel Monaco

A man accused of wielding a knife was Tasered outside the Hotel Monaco Monday.

About noon, a former Salt Lake police officer near 300 S. Main called 911 after observing a man "running uncontrollably into traffic" while occasionally pulling a knife from his waistband and then putting it back, said Salt Lake police detective Dennis McGowan.

The man took off running as soon as he saw officers arrive at the scene, he said. At one point the man threw something into a Dumpster, which detectives later recovered and found out was drug paraphernalia, McGowan said.

At the northwest corner of the Hotel Monaco, the man was Tasered by police, which resulted in the man dropping the knife.. McGowan said he did not know the circumstances leading up to the use of the Taser, but noted that the department uses Tasers when a suspect is dangerous, violent, aggressively resists arrest or attempts to flee.

Warner Ewert, 22, was arrested and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of fleeing. Detectives were also looking into whether Ewert was intoxicated or high at the time of arrest.