UO student shocked with Taser in own apartment
EUGENE, Ore. -- A Eugene police officer shocked a University of Oregon student from China with a Taser in the student's apartment after someone reported that the student was a trespasser and officers had difficulty taking the man into custody prior to learning he lived there.
Now the city's police auditor is reviewing the actions of the officers involved.
The incident happened Sept. 22 when a possible renter looked in the window of an apartment at 1070 W. 11th Ave. and saw sleeping bags on the floor. That person called police, suspecting the men might be trespassers. A broker with the Jennings Group, the company that manages the apartments, also called police -- not knowing that the two men had rented the apartment just two hours earlier from someone else with the firm.
"Sometimes police have very accurate details from callers," acting Lt. Doug Mozan with the Eugene Police Department told KVAL News. "Sometimes they don't have accurate details."
Police arrived shortly before 7:30 p.m. and found the two men inside the apartment. Believing the men were transients, police tried to take them into custody. A Eugene police lieutenant told KVAL News that the men did not speak English very well, and officers encountered a language barrier.
Officers detained one of the men without incident.
Police used a Taser to take the other man into custody.
KVAL News asked police what the man did to prompt the officer to use a Taser.
"I'm not at liberty to give any details about that," Mozan said. "It's still an open case."
Thirty minutes later, police learned the men had rented the apartment at 5:30 p.m. that day and moved in, having selected that particular apartment at the last minute over another apartment. Only one person in the property management office was aware of the change at the time a different rental broker contacted police.
Once police learned the men were there legally, they were released from custody and the call was dismissed as unfounded.
Eugene's police auditor Mark Gissiner opened an investigation into the incident after he learned about it.
"I thought it was an important enough of a case," Gissiner said. "I suspected there would be difficulty for the people involved to understand the auditor's office and perhaps articulate what had occurred."
The property manager said he believes the men are from China. He said the men still live in the apartment and like the location so much, they recommended the apartment to friends.
Police would not identify the students or the officers involved in the case.
