A Taser was used on an ISU student for the first time since ISU Police began carrying the weapons in June.

Michael Crabb, senior in hotel and restaurant management, was stunned with a Taser at Kum & Go, 203 Welch Ave., on Aug. 31.

According to police reports, Crabb attacked Rodney Briggs, an employee of Lee’s Security, when he refused to let Crabb use the restroom at the gas station. Reports also indicate that Crabb fought with officers until an ISU Police officer stunned him with a Taser. Crabb was charged with simple assault, public intoxication and resisting arrest.

Crabb said he pleaded not guilty on Thursday at his arraignment. ISU Police Special Operations Unit Capt. Gene Deisinger said the case is under investigation and the trial is pending.

“This is the first time a Taser has been used,” Deisinger said. “If [the Taser] was applied in [the] way it was designed for, it was an effective and appropriate use of force.”

Kum & Go closes the bathrooms Thursday through Saturday nights because it gets trashed, said Megan Ward, a Kum & Go employee who was working the night of the incident.

Police reports indicate Crabb resisted arrest for 12 minutes with four officers before an ISU Police officer unholstered a Taser and used it against Crabb’s upper thigh. Briggs had no comment about the incident.

Deisinger said at about 1:30 a.m., “Crabb increasingly became physically resistant and combative while the officers tried to get him into the squad car.” He said both officers were using pressure points and holds to get him into the car.

Deisinger said Crabb braced his leg on the squad car so the officers could not get him in. He said other force options, such as pepper spray, were considered.

“At that point ISU officers recommended the Taser be used,” Deisinger said. “The ISU Police officer held the Taser against the suspect’s leg and administered the charge.

“Shortly after this, Crabb stopped resisting and officers where able to get him to the ground,” Deisinger said. “At that point, they checked his restraints, put him in the squad car and there were no more problems with compliance.”

Crabb said he didn’t know he had the Taser administered on him until he spoke with Kum & Go employees the next night. He went home, looked at his injuries and noticed marks on his thigh.

“It’s scary to me,” Crabb said. “I’ve never been in a fight before. The only part of my body that didn’t hurt for the following three days were my toes and my eyeballs.” He said his wrists were swollen for those three days.

“To be honest with you, I don’t remember even leaving the bar,” Crabb said. “The next thing I remember was waking up in jail [and] I was still drunk when the judge was reading the charges to me.”

The physical evidence of the struggle was obvious to Crabb’s friends, he said. “One friend told me it looked like I got attacked by a huge vampire,” Crabb said.

However, Ward said she did not think the officers were out of hand with the force they used. Ward, freshman in psychology, estimated there were about 60 to 70 spectators during the incident.

Andrew Sawyers, junior in electrical engineering, said after leaving Mickey’s Irish Pub, 109 Welch Ave., he saw five police cruisers in the Kum & Go parking lot.

“The crowd was rooting the kid on and the cops were telling people to shut up,” Sawyers said.

Ward said Crabb had approached the station that night “stumbling really bad.” She said he was so bad the security guard sat him down on the curb and got him some water.

“He was really nice until we told him he couldn’t use the bathroom,” Ward said. “That’s when he basically flipped out.”

Deisinger said the Ames Police Department received a call of a fight in progress. He said Ames Police requested assistance from ISU Police, who responded within a minute of the Ames dispatch.

Deisinger said it was reported that both private security guards were being fought with. ISU officers were directed to the back where they watched, and “the officers repeatedly instructed Crabb to cooperate while being cuffed.”

Officers cuffed him in order to sort things out even though Crabb was not under arrest at that point, Deisinger said. Crabb began to resist physically and verbally. “Ames Police showed up and escorted him out,” Deisinger said. “At that point, he was arrested for assault.”

Ward said there is a fight near the station every two to four weeks; however, this is the worst she has ever seen.

Crabb said he was not under the influence of any other chemical substance other then alcohol.

“This was a real wake-up call,” he said. “I haven’t even thought of drinking since.”

In regards to being the first person to have the Taser administered to, Crabb said: “It was stupid, I am not proud of it by any means. It is, certainly, a bad thing to be known as the first in that contest.