Man who allegedly took San Bernardino officer’s Taser is fatally shot

A man was killed by San Bernardino police officers early Friday after he fought with them and removed one officer’s holster and Taser, police said.

The man, who hasn’t been identified, broke into a motel room at the Econo Lodge at 6th Street and G Street about 2 a.m., and then ran into the officer in the parking lot, San Bernardino Police Lt. Rich Lawhead said.

He was “totally uncooperative,” so the officer called another officer for backup, Lawhead said.

The two officers then confronted the man and deployed a Taser, which was ineffective.

The man ran, scaling a 6-foot-tall iron fence, as the officers chased him. A third officer arrived and they struggled to arrest the suspect.

At some point during the struggle, the man grabbed and removed an officer’s holster and Taser and tried to use it.

Lawhead said the officers, fearing for their safety, fired at the man, killing him.

The officers were not injured during the incident.

The officer-involved shooting comes more than a month after San Bernardino Officer Gabriel Garcia was shot and critically injured during a confrontation with four men in the 1900 block of Garner Avenue.

Three men have been charged with attempted murder. The fourth man, who was shot during the firefight, later died at an area hospital.

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