A Juneau man is in custody Monday after a fight with police that saw an officer shoot the man with a nonlethal beanbag round fired from a shotgun.
Zachary Pratt, 27, has been charged with three counts of assault against a police officer and one count of resisting arrest. All of those crimes are class A misdemeanors. Pratt was arraigned Sunday in Juneau District Court.
According to charging documents, Pratt was kicked out of Rainforest Recovery Center “for causing a disturbance,” then threatened staff. A Bartlett Regional Hospital security guard approached Pratt, but when Pratt clenched his fists and approached the guard, the guard backed off. Pratt left the area and walked down Hospital Drive, where officers found him.
Pratt was wanted on a felony warrant for violating conditions of probation, and when officers attempted to arrest him, Pratt fought back.
“The fight with Pratt moved into the bus stop structure, where Pratt continued to throw his body and slam the officers holding on to him against the sides of the structure,” wrote officer Darin Schultz in an affadavit.
According to the affidavit and a statement provided by police, officers tried to use a Taser, “but it had minimal effect,” the statement said.
At one point in the fight, as Pratt charged at officers, an officer fired a beanbag round from a shotgun. The shot hit Pratt in one leg, and he subsequently ran into a nearby building and locked himself in that building’s bathroom.
He was later taken into custody without further incident, police said.
Lt. David Campbell, a spokesman for the Juneau Police Department, said he does not believe the department has used a beanbag round against a person in the past five years. According to statistics provided to the Empire by Campbell, JPD officers used force (pepper spray, taser, baton, bean bag, firearms) 31 times in 2016, or about 1.76 percent of the 1,760 arrests that year.
Campbell said officers receive regular training on the appropriate use of force, and according to the department’s statement and court affadavits, the officers in this case used their hands, a baton and a Taser before firing a bean bag from a shotgun.
During the fight, Schultz injured one of his hands. He underwent X-rays, and Campbell said Schultz is not expected to miss any work.
Pratt was treated at Bartlett Regional Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. An update on his condition was not available Monday.
According to court documents, he is being held at Lemon Creek Correctional Center on $8,000 bail.
The Empire attempted to reach Pratt at the phone number he provided court officials. That number was not in service when the Empire called. No attorney was listed for Pratt on Monday morning.
• Contact reporter James Brooks at james.k.brooks@juneauempire.com or call 523-2258.
