New taser helps Indiana police take down armed shoplifting suspect, protect shoppers

By Madeline Carter

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    CLARKSVILLE, Indiana (WLKY) — New technology helped prevent a police chase from turning deadly last week in a Lowe’s parking lot in Clarksville.

“He then pulled out a gun, and as we were running through the parking lot, I then drew my weapon,” said Officer Dalton Fitzgerald.

He and Officer Sean Hodge are the two officers depicted in a viral photo shared by the Clarksville Police Department on Thursday. It shows a wanted shoplifting suspect running from the officers in the parking lot of the store on Veterans Parkway.

The suspect’s gun is easy to spot in the photo, but some may not have realized Hodge was holding one of his department’s brand-new tasers.

At the beginning of April, the Clarksville Police Department received 62 new tasers made by Axon and trained officers to deploy them as an alternative to lethal force.

The devices come with a blinding warning light and ten chances to stop a threat at an increased speed and distance. Police said they can be accurately deployed up to 45 feet away from a subject, which is double the distance of the department’s old tasers.

Hodge said he was about 10 feet away from a fast-moving target when his training kicked into gear on Thursday during the chase outside Lowe’s.

“I then deployed another taser round, which was effective, disabling him and decentralizing him, causing him to fall to the ground,” said the patrolman.

Although Officer Fitzgerald pulled out his weapon, he said he decided not to fire any gunshots since other shoppers were in the parking lot.

“We were able to get him captured and in cuffs and recover the gun from him before any injuries or anything further happened,” Fitzgerald said.

The suspect, Richard Smith, didn’t get a chance to fire either before he was quickly taken into custody.

Hodge credited his partner’s actions and the new taser at their disposal with helping to end the wild chase without harming any innocent bystanders.

“Our goal in this community, in this department, is we want to keep everyone as safe as humanly possible,” Hodge said. “The outcome that was seen was kind of the best of what we could have.”

The Clarksville Police Department is the third law enforcement agency in the area to utilize the new devices. According to the assistant chief, the five-year contract with Axon will cost the department more than $300,000.

Officers’ body-worn cameras in Clarksville are also developed by Axon.

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