Salt Lake City cop tases fleeing homeless man

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

A Salt Lake City police officer used a Taser on a 47-year-old homeless man after he tried to flee Monday morning.

Shortly after 5 a.m., an officer on patrol in Pioneer Park found two men sleeping on the tennis courts in violation of the park's curfew hours. The park closes 30 minutes before sunset and opens again at 7 a.m.

"All parks in Salt Lake City are closed during the night so you can't go in and camp in them," said SLCPD Sgt. Robin Heiden.

While the officer cited one man for the curfew violation, the other man fled. The officer finally caught up to the fleeing man at 200 S. 300 W., where he tased him.

Police policy authorizes the use of a Taser when a subject aggressively resists the officer or attempts to flee.

Though the man had a number of drug arrests on his record, the officer did not find drugs on him after he was tased.

The man was booked for violating park curfew and failing to stop at the command of a police officer. He was released within a few hours.

hstevens@sltrib.com

Twitter: @Harry_Stevens