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Electrical gun used to subdue suspect
By DAN DeWITT SPRING HILL -- David Dubrow was angry, profane and uncooperative, a Sheriff's Office report said, but he was no threat to the lives of the deputies trying to arrest him. That made him a perfect candidate for the Taser, an electrical gun that temporarily paralyzes its victims but does no lasting harm. Deputies on Sunday morning used their Tasers to subdue Dubrow. It was the first time deputies used the devices in the line of duty since Sheriff Richard Nugent issued 75 of them to bailiffs and supervisors in December, Sheriff's Office spokesman Joe Paez said. Dubrow of 11348 Portolo Lane was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence, and disorderly intoxication. Two sheriff's sergeants, Robert Libengood and Rick Kramer, arrested Dubrow outside the Circle K convenience store at Spring Hill Drive and Mariner Boulevard. The sergeants were talking outside the store when a customer ran out and asked them to break up a fight inside, Libengood's report stated in giving the following account of the incident: Dubrow, who is 6 feet 3 and weighs 215 pounds, was yelling at the clerk and several customers. They told Libengood that Dubrow had been causing problems and had struck or pushed one of the customers. When Libengood asked Dubrow to step outside for an interview, Dubrow said, "F--- you. I'm leaving" and hurried out of the store to a sport utility vehicle with a woman behind the wheel. Dubrow told the woman to drive away, but she didn't. When Libengood asked Dubrow to get out, he repeatedly refused. He also refused to show his driver's license and threatened Libengood. When he finally left the vehicle, he yelled obscenities, pushed the deputy and grabbed at his name tag. He became even more angry when Libengood told him he was under arrest and "started to yell obscenities in writer's face, which was causing saliva to emit from his mouth and land on this writer." Libengood then pushed Dubrow away from him and pulled his Taser, which fires electrically charged darts. After more warnings, Libengood fired the Taser. The first dart apparently did not stick and the second one slowed him down only slightly, before Kramer fired one that "did immediately incapacitate the subject, causing him to fall to the ground." Dubrow was taken to the Hernando County Jail, where he was released in lieu of $13,500 bail. Paez said the Tasers, which cost $750 apiece, "are one more tool, much like the pepper spray." One advantage, Paez said, is that they have a range of about 20 feet, meaning they can be fired from a safe distance. Several people in the state have died after being subdued by Tasers, according to published reports, though all were using drugs that contributed to their deaths.
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From today's Hernando Times |
