High Thief Shrugs Off Taser and Pepper Spray

In today’s day and age, bath salt zombies and crazed psychopaths are common fodder for news stories.

So much so, that when I was going through the police reports for the week, I deftly brushed off how a man ransacked an Autozone for 20 air fresheners — scent unknown — and took police on a foot chase, eventually going berserk in a flower bed and ripping a Taser from his “puffed-out” chest. Later, he stood his ground again and took several shots of pepper spray, without flinching, before obeying the officers.

Here is how it all went down:

At 11:26 a.m., June 14, a man stole 20 air fresheners from Autozone in the 600 block of West Jefferson Boulevard.

Police found the man walking at in the 400 block of South Tyler Street. A chase ensued and the man ran along South Tyler as he jumped fences and went through multiple backyards. He threw the bag of car air fresheners into a back yard in the 800 block of West 12th Street.

After already hoping multiple fences, he hopped over one and fell into a flower bed in the 800 block of West Page Avenue.

This is where it gets interesting.

An officer ordered him to stay down and, according to the report, the man jumped up, puffed out his chest, and appeared high on drugs. He didn’t flinch when he was then shot with a taser, ripped out the wires, and took off again over the back fence.

He stayed in that back yard, and was later cornered by the officers in some bushes. He then got aggressive and puffed up his chest one more time to the officers. Officers then responded with several pepper spray shots and, lo and behold, the man took the pepper spray like a champ and “did not flinch.” But eventually he gave in and David Lee Coles Jr., 28, was arrested by the officers.

The report states that Coles is a habitual shoplifter at Autozone.

Let’s be honest, I’m just glad all faces were left intact.