16-year-old boy tasered, in critical condition
Steven Avila (Salem-Keizer school district) SALEM, Ore. – A Salem teen is in critical condition at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland after a SWAT member tasered him while serving search warrants Wednesday morning.
Neighbor Calvin Thayer hear the event unfold.
"So I opened up my back door and there was a massive billow of blue smoke...the next thing I heard was the police with the bullhorn saying we are the police -- we have a search warrant, put your hands up and come on out," Thayer said.
Oregon State Police SWAT team members were assisting with the execution of multiple search warrants in the Salem area as part of an ongoing multi-agency Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) narcotics investigation.
Wednesday around 6 in the morning, a search warrant was executed at a house in northeast Salem. One man was arrested without incident, but police say Steven Avila, 16, resisted arrest.
When Avila continued to physically resist, a SWAT member used a taser gun on him. The teen briefly continued to resist, then became unconscious. He was taken by ambulance to Salem Hospital then transferred to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland. Avila is in critical condition.
The trooper who tasered Avila is on modified duty as the Salem police investigate the incident. The trooper has been with SWAT for about six years.
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