What started out as a bit of a joke turned into something serious when Nick Bennett of the Mayor's Citizen Government Academy agreed to be tasered on July 1 at the Danbury Police Department.
"PJ was just fooling around and he said something like, 'Yeah, and Nick is going to be tased," Bennett said a few minutes after it happened. Bennett said he agreed imediately. "It was awesome."
Bennett and about 27 other people from Danbury are taking the government class designed to help people engage with city govenment. Students have learned about economic development, planning, downtown redevelopment, the city's fight against Blight and on July 1 they visited the police department. The class meets once a week for eight weeks.
Bennett signed a waiver form allowing the PD to taser him. Taser Training Officer Mike Georgoulis, a sergeant, explained to the students the taser gives officers the seconds they need to handcuff and arrest a belligerent suspect. After tasering Bennett, Officers John Brown and Jay Mortara lowered Bennett to the ground. He was temporarily frozen in place.
Once he was down, he jumped up, and said, "That was awesome."
Georgoulis asked Bennett to lay down again so he could pull the tiny harpoons out of his back.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
