Police Tase Man to Stop Him from Cutting Himself

Ferndale police officers stopped a man from cutting his arms early Tuesday morning by tasing him.

Around 2 a.m. Tuesday morning, officers responded to a call of an "armed suicidal man leaving a care center for closed head injury patients," Ferndale Police Lt. Detective William Wilson said in a statement released Tuesday.

The report claimed the man was walking on the 700 block of Wanda and carrying a knife.

"Officers arrived in the area and encountered the 52-year-old man on Silman Street, near Wanda," Wilson said. "The man was sharpening the knife blade on the sidewalk. When an officer approached, the man faced the officer and refused to drop the knife."

A second officer arrived but the man wouldn't listen to the orders of the officers to drop the knife. Wilson said it appeared as if the man might attack the officers.

"The man then began to use the knife to slash his own arm," Wilson said. "One officer shot the man with a taser. The man fell to the ground, but still had the knife. With the taser activated, the second officer approached the man and was able to remove the knife from his hand."

The man was then transported to Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak for treatment.

"He had slashes to his arm," Wilson said. "He was conscious and talking when turned over to the hospital."

Stay tuned as more details become available from this incident.