Spokane deputies use Taser on armed 11-year-old boy

Spokane County sheriff’s deputies used a Taser on an 11-year-old boy after he refused to drop the knife he was holding Thursday morning.

Deputies were called to the area of 700 W. Hastings Road around 9 a.m. on a report of two males behind a store, one of whom was reportedly wearing a mask and holding a knife. A second call reported a juvenile with a mask running toward a nearby apartment complex.

Deputies spotted the boy in between apartment buildings, holding a knife with a six-inch serrated blade, according to a Sheriff’s Office press release. Deputies said the boy stared straight ahead and did not seem to register their presence, the release said.

Deputies used the Taser on the boy in an attempt to disarm him after he did not respond to repeated requests to drop the knife, the release said. He was taken to a local hospital for a psychological examination.

The boy’s father was asleep in his apartment at the time of the incident.