Boone Police Department officers used a taser Sunday to subdue a man found harming himself with a knife in the Boone Hy-Vee, the department said Monday.
Commander John Sloter of the Boone Police Department said when police arrived at the store at 1111 Eighth St. about 2:30 a.m., they found Ronald Carle Hampton Jr., 25, of Boone “actively harming himself with a knife.”
The knife was four to five inches long, Sloter said.
Sloter said officers ordered Hampton to drop the knife. When he did not comply, “they deployed one taser shot to him,” he said.
“We have no idea why he did this to himself,” Sloter said. “We’re just glad we could bring him safely into custody so we could get him the help he needed. But as to the whys, only he knows at this point.”
Hampton was taken by air ambulance to Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines to receive treatment for his self-inflicted injuries.
No charges were filed against Hampton.
“He didn’t threaten customers,” Sloter said. “He didn’t threaten the police. He simply threatened himself.”
Hampton was convicted of third-degree burglary in 2011, of harassment of a police officer in 2012, fifth-degree criminal mischief in 2014 and public intoxication in 2014 and 2015.
The Boone Police Department was assisted by the Boone County Sheriff’s office, Boone Volunteer Fire Department and the Boone County Hospital “in bringing this situation under control and delivering medical aid,” Sloter said.
