By Police1 Staff
BELEN, N.M. — Police officers were able to deploy a TASER and subdue a knife-wielding suspect during a tense standoff Tuesday.
According to KRQE, police were called to the scene after receiving reports of a man jumping in front of vehicles and screaming at drivers along a road.
When one officer — who identifies himself as Chavez in the video — pulled up alongside the suspect, he recognized him as 33-year-old Robert Padilla and spotted a knife in his hand.
The officer reportedly had cited the suspect the previous day for reckless driving.
Officer Chavez attempted to reason with Padilla over his squad car’s PA system to no avail. Additional officers arrived and surrounded the suspect with guns drawn while ordering him to drop his weapon.
Padilla refused multiple commands to disarm himself and reportedly shouted, “Shoot me, f--- you!”
As the suspect made movements that indicated he was preparing to throw the knife, a TASER was deployed, and Padilla was successfully subdued.
The department’s police chief credited his officers for their handling of the potentially deadly incident.
“I was very happy with the way they handled this,” Belen Police Chief Dan Robb told KRQE. “By just using non-lethal force, they were able to peacefully end this situation without anybody getting hurt.”
Padilla was arrested and charged with aggravated assault on a police officer.