Deputies Use New Beanbag Gun to Subdue Suspect

In the first live test of their new “beanbag” guns, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies Sunday subdued a menacing, machete-wielding man without resorting to lethal force, a department spokesman said.

Deputies responding to a domestic disturbance call in Norwalk shortly after midnight encountered a man, later identified as Robert Tolmasoff, 33, threatening them with a four-foot-long machete, Deputy Jim Hellmold said.

Ordered to drop the weapon, Tolmasoff refused--and then advanced on the deputies, Hellmold said.

A field sergeant fired a special shotgun that spews beanbags packed with one-tenth of a pound of small lead shot. The weapons were deployed in all Sheriff’s Department patrol cars just last week, giving deputies a new method to subdue suspects from 15 to 25 yards away.

As Sunday’s incident demonstrated, the beanbag guns can pack a punch--but do not always disable a suspect immediately.

“Three times, [Tolmasoff] was hit with the stun bag, three times he was knocked down and each time he got back up again,” Hellmold said. “The fourth time, he dropped to his knees and dropped the machete.”

Deputies handcuffed Tolmasoff, the sheriff’s spokesman said, but he continued to kick and struggle until he was subdued with pepper spray.

Deputy Rich Erickson termed the stun bag successful “in that [Tolmasoff] was not killed, as he could have been in a situation like this, and he did drop the weapon and was taken into custody still alive.”

Sunday’s incident marked the department’s first field use of the beanbag guns, which can bruise and knock down suspects but are considered less lethal than traditional shotguns.

Still, one beanbag fired Sunday unexpectedly broke when it struck Tolmasoff’s elbow--causing cuts and embedding some lead pellets under his skin, sheriff’s officials said. Terming the bag’s rupture a mechanical malfunction, Erickson said the department will investigate.

Tolmasoff was taken to Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center’s jail ward. He will be charged with assaulting deputies with a deadly weapon and being under the influence of methamphetamine, Hellmold said.