By Police1 Staff
CHESTERFIELD, S.C. — Dash cam shows a police officer subdue a naked and aggressive man who was apparently high on ‘bath salts.’
Chesterfield County Deputy Lee Lewis was conducting a routine traffic stop when the driver exited his vehicle wearing nothing but a pair of shoes. Lewis tried to handcuff the man, but police say the man resisted, reaching for Lewis’ handgun and banging on the windows of his patrol car.
Because the drug – which can be snorted or injected – elevates the body temperature, users often end up naked, and they usually display aggressive behavior, according to WCCB.
“The nature of the drug turns these people into almost superhuman,” Lewis said.
Lewis and a backup Pageland police officer subdued the 180-pound man, who had been verbally threatening the officers, by deploying their TASERs multiple times. The Pageland officer suffered a broken hand.
Authorities are concerned that civilians or law enforcement might be seriously injured or killed during a ‘bath salts’ run-in, which they are seeing more frequently.
“It’s just overwhelming. It’s hard to believe we had just a few incidents a few months ago and now we’re up to 9 and 10 in the last three weeks. It’s an everyday problem,” says Chesterfield County Sheriff Sam Parker.