Fight Over Stun Gun Ended in Death

A Riverside police officer who fatally shot a man outside a hotel fired because the man grabbed the officer’s stun gun, and the officer feared it would be used against him, according to a statement the department released Tuesday.

Officer Terry Ellefson, who has been on the force for three years, shot the man twice Monday after the stun gun was wrested from him during a fight, Sgt. Leon Phillips said in the statement.

Police had received calls about a deranged man screaming, exposing himself and jumping on cars outside the Welcome Inn of America on University Avenue, about a mile from UC Riverside.

Officer Michael Stucker arrived and requested backup; Ellefson arrived moments later.

Officers said the 31-year-old Riverside man, whose name has not been released, refused to obey their commands. Both Ellefson and Stucker fired stun guns to subdue him, but they were ineffective, Phillips’ statement said, and a fight ensued.

The man was pronounced dead shortly afterward at Riverside Community Hospital.

Sgt. Mike Cook said Monday that the department would launch criminal and internal investigations, which are routine when an officer kills someone.

The shooting comes roughly a month after the department fulfilled a court order for reforms following the controversial shooting death of 19-year-old Tyisha Miller in 1998. Four Riverside officers shot Miller to death after finding her passed out in a locked car with a gun in her lap. The officers said they fired when she reached for the gun.