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At Big Thicket National Preserve, a Combative Drug Dealer Changes His Mind When Ranger Stafford Shows Him His Taser

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By Bob Janiskee - September 10th, 2008

Model X26 Taser making an electrical arc between its two electrodes.
Taser photo via Wikipedia.

On Tuesday, September 2, Big Thicket National Preserve rangers Josh Clemons and Johnny Stafford were in a day use area conducting an assessment of possible hurricane damage (remember Hurricane Gustav?) when they came upon five men and a women doing a drug transaction. One of the men tried to resist arrest, but abruptly quit struggling with Clemmons when he got a look at the Taser that Stafford was holding.

Ranger Stafford had removed the Taser’s cartridge, which powers the two dart-like electrodes that deliver the powerful electroshock for which the Taser is famous. He only displayed the spark, which was quite enough to convince the perp that it just wasn’t his day. He quit struggling and submitted to handcuffing.

While frisking the group the rangers found a number of bags of marijuana and Vicodin pills. Charges are pending for possession, distribution, and resisting arrest.

Comments

Submitted by Jim Burnett on November 13, 2008 - 9:43pm.

Brandon -

Well said!

Most readers of this site have never been to the Big Thicket, and it's therefore hard for them to grasp the difficult situation rangers there often face. Many parks have similar issues with inadequate staff and backup for rangers, but they seem to be amplified at the Thicket for a lot of reasons related to the local culture and the surprisingly remote nature of much of the park.


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