Deputy switches from gun to Taser to drop knife-wielding man

TULSA, Okla. (AP) – A quick-thinking Oklahoma sheriff’s deputy is being praised after using her Taser instead of a handgun to subdue a knife-wielding man who later said he was trying to provoke a shooting.

Tulsa County Sheriff’s Deputy Catherine Curtin was flagged down Monday by someone saying a man with two large knives was threatening people.

Curtin tells KJRH-TV she had the man at gunpoint but switched to the Taser when she saw the man showing “classic suicide-by-cop” behavior. She shocked the 60-year-old man, who was jailed.

Sheriff’s office spokeswoman Casey Roebuck on Wednesday praised Curtin’s “years of experience and training.”

Police use of deadly versus less-lethal force has been in the public dialogue.

Earlier this month, an Oklahoma City officer was charged with second-degree murder after he fatally shot a suicidal man.