Man tased by officers after refusal to obey

A Louisville man, Kody A. Warf, 24, was tased several times by Washington County Sheriff’s Department deputies after disobeying orders during an alleged incident that took place Nov. 17, on East Saylor Road.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed by Sergeant Lucas Gray, he and Detective Brad Naugle responded to a call at 1:57 a.m. to investigate a motorcycle accident.

Upon arrival Gray and Naugle located Warf, who initially improperly identified himself as Christian Cruce.

Warf not only provided officers improper information about who he was, he also gave officers, according to the PC affidavit, improper information about who the motorcycle belonged to and whether or not the registration was up to date.

Officers also questioned Warf about a strong odor of marijuana they smelled on his person, which he denied.

Naugle informed Warf they were going to perform a pat down and things quickly escalated.

The affidavit states at that point Warf took a step backward, away from the officers and put his right hand inside of his jacket near the waist line of his pants.

“It appeared to me Kody was reaching for something and I instructed him to remove his hand from inside the jacket,” Gray wrote in the report.

Gray continued to say that Naugle gave the same instruction, which Warf continued to ignore.

At that point, Gray drew his department issued pistol and Naugle drew his department issued taser and both continued to instruct Warf to move his hands where they could see them.

Warf pulled out a cell phone and told officers he was wanting to record the incident, but continued to move back and ignore orders to stop.

Warf then took off running north, at which point Naugle deployed his taser, which did not have any effect. Naugle deployed his taser for a second time  and according to the affidavit it was partially effective, as Warf fell to his kness, but did not completely stop and attempted to continue.

Officers escorted Warf to the ground and continued to give commands for him to put his hands behind his back, which he continued to ignore. This forced both Gray and Naugle to deploy drive stuns from their tasers. Warf ended up striking Naugle in the right side of his head, forcing Gray to use his OC spray to Warf’s face area.

At that point, Warf was under control and he was placed in cuffs.

The report said tasers were not more effective because officers discovered Warf had on two pair of pants, two jackets and a backpack.

On his way to the Washington County Detention Center, Gray alleges that Warf offered him $10,000 if he would take him to Voyles Road, among other requests.

Warf’s felony charges include battery, a level 6; bribery, a level 5; unlawful use of body armor, a level 6 and several misdemeanor charges, as well.