Port St. Lucie - March 3, 2024: The Port St. Lucie Police Department (PSLPD) today released body camera footage of their new, longer range, Taser 10 being deployed to subdue a man who was threatening suicide.
The incident occurred on the night of February 4th at the Shell Gas Station at 3401 SW Darwin Boulevard.
When officers arrived, they found a 49 year old man holding a gun to his head by the air compressor in the gas station parking lot, according to a news release from PSLPD Public Information Officer Master Sergeant Dominick Mesiti.
Several officers set up a perimeter to block off traffic and contain the scene. Officer Mitch Miller began negotiations. Then Officer Brandon Martinez, an off-duty crisis negotiator, happened to be passing-by. He saw the heavy police presence and stopped and assist.
The distressed man can be heard on the body camera footage saying - "I'm sorry. I have no choice ... I gotta die ... just shoot me, please!"
"Just put that gun down man," responds an officer. "Take it off your head and just keep talking."
"Shoot me," says the man. "No sir" responds the officer. "Please," he begs, "there's no where to go from here."
Officer Martinez was able to distract the armed subject who can be seen taking the gun off his head and pointing it into the air.
That's when Sergeant Christopher D'Angelo got into position, while other officers provided lethal cover, and from over 40 feet away Officer D'Angelo aimed his newly issued Taser 10 at the armed man and fired, pulling the trigger 5 times.
The subject dropped his handgun as he fell to the ground after "Neuromuscular Incapacitation(NMI) was achieved," states the release from Master Sgt. Mesiti.
Officers rushed to where he fell and handcuff him. "OK, OK, oh my god, I give up," he cries out, "you got me good."
"You're alive, right?" says one officer. "That didn't hurt," responds the man saying "why didn't you just shoot me?"
The handgun was real, said Master Sgt. Mesiti in his release, but "it was only loaded with blanks, not live ammunition."
"This incident is a prime example of why the PSLPD upgraded to the Taser 10," states Master Sgt. Mesiti. "The Taser 7 that we used to carry would not have allowed the sergeant to deploy from a distance greater than 21 feet and if he was close enough to deploy, he would have had only 2 opportunities to incapacitate the subject. The new Taser 10 gave him 9 opportunities at the greater and safer distance.
The subject was taken to a local hospital for evaluation and treatment.