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The incident took place around 6:24 p.m., Monday, June 24, when officers made a motor vehicle stop at the intersection of Huntington Turnpike and Evers Street that resulted in the arrest of Michael Atkins, 35 of Bridgeport, said Terron Jones, spokesman for the Bridgeport Police.
During the stop, officers requested that the Atkins step out of the vehicle, but he refused, said Jones.
The officer on the scene was able to get the driver side door open and attempted to remove Atkins from the car but he kept pulling his left arm back into the car to grab onto the steering wheel.
Officers then tried to pull Atkins out of the car but even with the combined effort, officers still could not remove the resisting man, Jones added.
Fearing that Atkins may have a weapon as he continued to refuse to leave the motor vehicle, an officer un-holstered his department-issued Taser and told Atkins that if he did not exit the car he would be tased.
Atkins still refused to get out of the vehicle and the Taser was discharged, Jones said.
The taser prongs made contact and Atkins was immobilized and officers were able to pull him out of the vehicle. Once out of the vehicle, Atkins continued to resist, so an officer attempted to use the taser a second time. However, the second attempt had no effect.
Atkins was transferred to St. Vincent’s Hospital for evaluation prior to booking.
During a search of the vehicle, officers discovered an illegal firearm, Jones said.
In addition, officers found that Atkins was wanted on felony warrants out of Stratford and Derby.
He is being held on $50,000 bond.
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