Man Tasered after standoff with police
A man wanted on a mental health warrant and armed with a machete was Tasered five times and hit with several bean bag rounds during a more than two-hour standoff Saturday at his vehicle in Butler, authorities said.
Douglas B. Spink, 46, of Butler was finally arrested — but not before members of the state police Special Emergency Response Team were called in to help.
Butler police said Spink bit the hand of one of the assisting troopers, who ended up going to the hospital for treatment.
Spink also ended up at Butler Memorial Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. Details about the involuntary mental health warrant were not immediately known.
City police later charged him with aggravated assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct in connection with the standoff that unfolded in an alley between Fulton and Pearl streets.
While being arrested, police said, he bit a trooper’s right hand. The officer was taken to the hospital but the injury was believed to be minor.
This was not Spink’s first violent confrontation with police. In 2016, he fought with Zelienople police at a convenience store after authorities said he fired a gun at his mother’s house in Harmony.
A full report will appear in Tuesday's Butler Eagle.
