By Michelle Hunter, East Jefferson bureau
Times-Picayune
Authorities said a Jefferson man disarmed two deputies, attacking them with their own baton and a Taser gun, before he was shot and killed by one of the deputies early Thursday morning.
Walter Douglas, 41, was pronounced dead the Charity Hospital Trauma Unit at Elmwood after the run-in with Jefferson Parish sheriff’s deputies, which occurred just after midnight at Douglas’ home at 693 Jefferson Heights Ave., Sheriff Harry Lee said.
Deputies Kelly Day and Michael Boyington arrived at the home after receiving a 911 call from a woman about a domestic dispute. Douglas’ 18-year-old girlfriend, who was not identified by the Sheriff’s Office, answered the door with a 7-month-old child in her arms, Lee said.
Douglas was the father of the baby, he said.
The woman had been roughed up, but she was OK, authorities said.
The woman told the deputies that Douglas tried to strangle her with a belt and threatened her with a knife, Lee said. Douglas, who was in a back bedroom, struggled with the deputies when they tried to search and question him. As they fought, Douglas managed to take away Boyington’s baton and hit the officer several times, Lee said.
Day tried to stun Douglas with her Taser, but it had little effect, Lee said. Douglas then took the Taser from Day and began trying to stun both deputies in the leg and chest. That’s when Boyington shot Douglas once in the chest, Lee said.
Lee said the officers feared that if Douglas managed to stun either of the deputies, he would be able to obtain one of their guns and become and even greater danger.
Sheriff’s Office spokesman Col. Robert Garner said the death is still under investigation but that officials think both deputies followed procedure.
Not much is known about Douglas. There was no answer Thursday at either door of the single-story, yellow-brick double where he lived. Douglas’ front door was smeared with blood that also appeared in spatters on the front porch.
A neighbor, who did not want to be identified, said Douglas had been living at the rental property for only a few months. Things had always been quiet at 693 Jefferson Heights, he said.
As far as he knew, Douglas was a house painter. A truck outside bore the logo “Douglas Professional Painting.” No one answered at the telephone number printed below the name on the truck.
Copyright 2006 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company