Beanbag Ammo Gives Police a Non-Lethal Edge : Weapons: Knife-wielding suspect is subdued by officers shooting new rounds that stun but don’t kill.

The man with the butcher knife lunged twice at the Burbank police officers. Twice they blasted him with pepper spray to chase him back.

The third time he lunged, one of the backup officers fired a 12-gauge shotgun at his chest.

The man flew backward into his apartment, landing face up. Police officers swarmed into the room and cuffed him.

Although the man had been hit squarely in the chest, he was still conscious and barely bleeding. That’s because he was shot with a round of beanbags, a new, mostly non-lethal form of ammunition the Burbank Police Department used for the first time Monday.

“With the proper training, equipment, and professional behavior of your officers,” said Lt. Larry Koch, “you see how you can avoid using deadly force.”

The department purchased the beanbag rounds 10 months ago, Koch said, but Monday was their first opportunity to use them. They are carried by supervisors and the Burbank police special response team, which was called to the man’s apartment in the 400 block of East Cedar Avenue Monday afternoon.

The suspect, Norman Wiley, 32, had called Lumeni Productions Inc. in Glendale, where he works, about 2:30 p.m., allegedly implicating himself in the theft of some equipment from the office, Koch said. During the call, Wiley also reportedly said he was going to kill himself.

Lumeni officials called police and 20 minutes later, two officers knocked on the door of Wiley’s apartment. Wiley opened the door and allegedly began waving a butcher knife at the officers who shot pepper spray into his face, Koch said.

Wiley stumbled back, shook the spray off, and lunged at the officers, who sprayed him again, according to Koch. As Wiley retreated into his apartment, backup officers, including the special response team, arrived and began a tense negotiation with Wiley, Koch said.

After about a half hour, Wiley suddenly became agitated and began screaming, heading toward the door again, Koch said. An officer fired two beanbag rounds, the first hitting Wiley in the chest, the second grazing his leg.

Wiley suffered only minor abrasions, Koch said, and was booked into County Jail for assaulting a peace officer with a deadly weapon.

“We had a circumstance wherein at least three times the officers were in a situation where they would have been justified in using lethal force,” Koch said. “We opted for this because generally it is less lethal.”

Koch added that this was the main purpose of the beanbag ammunition.

“It stops you from having to take the chance of killing the suspect.”