North Stafford, Va. — A Stafford sheriff’s deputy drew his taser weapon and got into a struggle with a suspect Monday night.
About 9 p.m., witnesses called 911 and reported seeing flashlights near an area with homes under construction as well as containers used for storing construction materials on Bismark Drive.
When a sheriff’s deputy arrived, he saw a pickup pull away from the scene. The deputy saw what appeared to be construction materials in the rear of the truck and the deputy pursued the vehicle, said Stafford sheriff’s spokesman Bill Kennedy.
The deputy stopped the truck nearby in the 3000 block of Jefferson Davis Highway in North Stafford. Five men got out and took off into the woods. The deputy chased them but eventually lost sight of the men, said Kennedy.
Not long after, the deputy found one of the men on the ground and then repeatedly ordered the suspect to put his hands behind his back, but the man refused and the deputy pulled his taser.
The weapon, however, was useless because the suspect was wearing too many layers of clothing, said Kennedy.
The suspect and the deputy got into a struggle, and the suspect ended up on the deputy’s back where he grabbed the deputy’s taser. The suspect then took off running back into the woods where he threw away the weapon, said Kennedy.
Deputies called in search dogs and a Fairfax County Police helicopter to help search for the suspect. He was later found in a field near Interstate 95 near the Aquia Pines Campground, where he was arrested, said Kennedy.
Dany Hernandez, of Florida Avenue in Woodbridge, faces several grand larceny charges, and charges for resisting arrest, assaulting a law enforcement officer and vandalism, said Kennedy.
Deputies searched the truck the men were inside about $25,000 worth of copper pipes and construction materials inside, said Kennedy.
Deputies are still looking for the four other men who were inside the truck in an ongoing investigation.
