VENICE, Calif.
--
A man who may have been on heroin crashed a van into several parked vehicles in Venice, then struggled with two LAPD officers, pricking them with a syringe before they stunned him with a Taser and arrested him, authorities said Wednesday.
The crash near Strongs Drive and Washington Boulevard was reported around 10:10 p.m. Tuesday, said Officer Sara Faden of the Los Angeles Police Department's Media Relations Section.
Authorities did not immediately release the name of the suspect, who police said appeared to be in his late 30s or early 40s.
A sergeant with the LAPD's Pacific Station told an RMG News camera crew that a patrolling officer saw a white van traveling north on Strongs Drive, crossing Washington Boulevard and slamming into several parked vehicles. The officer called for backup, the sergeant said.
With officers closing in, the man in the damaged van tried to drive away from the wreckage and would not cooperate with police, the sergeant said.
He resisted attempts to drag him out of the van, took a syringe he apparently had on his person and attacked two officers, scraping and pricking them with it, the sergeant said.
Police subdued the man by shocking him with a Taser twice on his back, then took him into custody, the officer told RMG.
He was transported to a hospital with facial injuries and bleeding to the head -- both apparently suffered when the van crashed, RMG reported. The man may have been under the influence of heroin, said the sergeant at the scene.
One of the officers struck by the syringe was seen having his arm treated with rubbing alcohol after the struggle. The two officers were transported to a hospital for examination, the sergeant said.
"Yup, they got poked," a lieutenant at the Pacific Station said when asked if it had been confirmed that there had been skin contact with the syringe.
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