MADISONVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee man allegedly asked a deputy to kill him but assumed a fighting stance when the officer attempted to arrest him, authorities said.
Charles Jeffrey Hooper, 58, of Tellico Plains, was charged with criminal trespassing, public intoxication and resisting arrest, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office’s online booking records.
Rinehart said he approached Hooper and detected the smell of alcohol. When he asked Hooper how much he had been drinking, the man said, “A lot.”
Monroe County Sheriff’s Deputy Dakota Rinehart said he responded to a call on Feb. 25, the Advocate and Democrat of Madisonville reported. The man’s storage building was burning, and another resident called to complain that Hooper was trespassing on his property and was begging to be killed, the newspaper reported.
Rinehart said he found Hooper in possession of a knife and a bottle of Alprazolam, a prescription drug, the Advocate and Democrat reported. Hooper admitted to the deputy that he had taken “quite a few” of the pills, then told Rinehart he wanted to die.
When Rinehart went to arrest Hooper, the man pulled away and knocked off the deputy’s handcuffs while assuming a fighting stance, the newspaper reported.
Rinehart then used a Taser to subdue Hooper and then noticed that the man’s storage building was on fire. Firefighters came and doused the blaze, the Advocate and Democrat reported.