Air Force News, news from Iraq - Air Force Times

Eielson airmen use stun gun on driver, 81

FAIRBANKS, Alaska — Airmen from Eielson Air Force Base security forces used a Taser on an 81-year-old driver they say became belligerent after they gave him a ticket for going 11 miles over the speed limit on the Richardson Highway.

Glen M. Wilcox of Fairbanks says he was roughed up last Wednesday by four men.

An Eielson spokesman told The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner they used a minimum amount of nonlethal force.

A criminal complaint filed in court says Wilcox refused to accept the ticket and sped down the highway.

"They waved to me and I thought that meant I could go on," Wilcox said. "They stopped me again and told me to get out of my car."

When he was stopped, documents say he used profanity and tried to pull away from the airmen as they tried to handcuff him. Wilcox says he can't physically put his hands behind his back.

"I showed them I could barely touch my fingertips and they insisted," he said.

After several warnings, one of the airmen used a Taser on Wilcox to take him into custody. Wilcox said he was hurt and had to see a doctor for a bruised arm.

"It hurts like hell," he said. "I'm laying on the ground when they Tasered me. It's painful and very sharp."

Wilcox pleaded not guilty to resisting arrest and failure to stop at the direction of a peace officer.

Air Force regulations authorize law enforcement officials to use Tasers to arrest people who are actively resisting arrest or noncompliant with law enforcement orders, said Staff Sgt. James Stewart, a spokesman for Eielson. Regulations do not give different directives on how to deal with older subjects.