Manatee deputies tackle, tase, pepper spray drunk man charged with resisting arrest

MANATEE -- A drunk man who was resisting arrest was wrestled to the gound, tased multiple times and pepper sprayed early Monday, according to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.

Christopher Thomson, 23, was drinking in his home in the 4900 block of Lake Hill Court in Bradenton at 4:41 a.m. when he started smashing things and yelling at his roommates, according to a release. The roommates called law enforcement.

The first deputy who arrived said Thomson was "acting weird" and started smashing his head into concrete outside the residence. He tried to take Thomson into protective custody but Thomson ran inside the residence.

Thomson started trying to wrestle one roommate to the ground, and as the deputy tried to separate them all three fell on the ground, according to the release. At some point during the struggle, the deputy said Thomson tried to reach for his stun gun, and the deputy took it out and deployed it on Thomson.

Thomson fell to the ground but the tried to get back up, so the deputy deployed another cycle, according to the report. Once that cycle passed Thomson tried to get up again, despite commands by the deputy to stya on the ground, and was given another cycle.

Another deputy arrived at that point and tried to put handcuffs on Thomson, but he was resisting, deputies said. They tried to use the stun gun on him again, but it had no effect that time and Thomson became more violent and required "several more" deputies to restrain him.

Deputies took Thomson out to the patrol vehicle, where he continued to resist, according to the report. After ignoring multiple commands not to try to remove the restraints, a deputy used pepper spray on Thomson. He stopped trying to resist at that point.

Thomson was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest.

This story was originally published January 11, 2016 at 8:38 AM with the headline "Manatee deputies tackle, tase, pepper spray drunk man charged with resisting arrest ."