Editor’s Note: In the video, the TASER deployment occurs just after the 3 minute mark.
By Rozanna M. Martinez
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE — A city man who was armed with a gun and walking around a West Side apartment complex Monday was subdued with a TASER by police after he refused to put the weapon down, according to a police report.
Michael Hendricks, 45, is charged with unlawful carrying of a dead ly weapon and refusing to obey a police officer, jail records state. He remained at the Metropolitan Detention Center on Tuesday on a $2,000 bond.
Hendricks told a leasing agent Monday morning at the Ventana Canyon Apartments at 10300 Golf Course NW that he was unhappy the leasing office did not offer water and he had to drink coffee, according to the police report. Hendricks, who is a tenant at the complex, left and returned carrying a handgun.
The leasing agent fled the office and called management and co-workers to alert them, the police report states. Someone also called police.
The employees tried to leave and avoid Hendricks, but met up with him in a breezeway, where he allegedly pointed his gun up in the air and began to lower it, as the employees ran away.
An officer who arrived on scene tried to talk to Hendricks, who said he was “doing what he had to do to protect his family,” the police report states. He also asked to speak to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and the Secret Service. Hendricks said he wanted to speak with the Department of Justice and saw nothing alarming about his actions, according to the police report.
Hendricks told the officer that he had been diagnosed with depression, but that his other mental health issues were none of the officer’s business, the report reads.
Police repeatedly ordered Hendricks to drop the weapon, put his hands in the air and to not approach officers. Hendricks did not comply. Instead, he put the gun in his pocket and walked toward police.
Hendricks continued to disobey police commands and was shocked with a Taser by police. He resisted arrest and after a brief struggle, four police officers were able to handcuff him, the police report states.
Police found a .357 revolver, which was loaded with five bullets, that Hendricks had been carrying, according to the police report.
Copyright 2011 Albuquerque Journal