Wagoner Police Arrest Man For Confronting Officers, Smashing Window With Hatchet

Wagoner Police officers arrested a man after they said he smashed a patrol car with a hatchet and then approached officers with the weapon.

The Chief of Police said officers did their best to use de-escalation tactics, eventually tasing the man to get him into custody.

DeAundre Hughes was arrested after being taken to the hospital following the incident on Monday afternoon, according to Wagoner Police.

Body camera video from the officers shows Hughes ignoring several commands to drop the weapon.

Police said a pair of scissors was in Hughes’ other hand.

After nearly five minutes of refusing to drop the hatchet, an officer tased Hughes and he was taken into custody.

Wagoner Police Chief Bob Haley said they then discovered a patrol car window was smashed by Hughes.

A dispatcher inside the station noticed Hughes walking towards the building with the hatchet and alerted officers.

“The most important thing is to not escalate it to a situation where somebody ends up having to be shot,” said Haley.

Haley said Hughes had previous encounters with Wagoner Police, and in this case, he asked why officers did not shoot him.

“He was obviously in crisis,” said Haley. “From what I observed, he wasn’t real responsive.”

Haley said officers go through de-escalation training for tense situations like this and make an effort that nobody, including the suspect, loses their life.

The training and the heads up from the dispatcher may have prevented a worse outcome.