A police officer patrolling a New Whiteland neighborhood tried to talk to a teen out walking after 2 a.m., but the boy ran, prompting a foot chase through yards and ending with the two wrestling for control in the street.
The boy was shocked with a stun gun several times after he wouldn’t stop running. Both the teen and the New Whiteland police officer were injured during the struggle, but none of the injuries were serious, according to a New Whiteland police report.
The ordeal started at 2:20 a.m. Wednesday on Parkway Street, which is in a residential neighborhood between U.S. 31 and Sawmill Road, north of Whiteland Road. A police officer stopped to talk to a person walking in the street due to recent thefts from vehicles.
After a short conversation, while the officer was checking the person’s identification, the boy ran, the report said. The officer chased him, threatening to use his Taser, but the boy continued running between homes and over fences, the report said.
He was hit with the Taser twice but kept running each time. The officer caught him when he fell in a ditch, and the two were wrestling in the middle of the street. The officer put the boy in a chokehold, but he was still trying to fight the officer, so the officer administered several direct Taser stuns to his leg and back, the report said.
The teen stopped fighting, and another police officer arrived.
The officer injured his elbow and finger, the report said.
The boy had a cut and scrape marks on his knees and arms, and was taken to Johnson Memorial Hospital, then to the Johnson County Juvenile Detention Center, the report said.
He told police he ran because he had been drinking at a party and did not want to go back to jail, the report said.
