NEWS

Nearly nude man tased in airport

Karl Etters
Democrat staff writer

A man clad only in his underwear was tased last week after he dashed into the main concourse of Tallahassee Regional Airport claiming he had a plane to catch.

Police made contact with 26-year-old Chris Haynes after he sped into the airport's main entrance and left his vehicle unattended in the drop-off loading zone just before 4 a.m. May 5.

Haynes made a statement about having a plane to catch as he continued toward the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint, ignoring multiple commands to stop, court records show.

Haynes was tased in the back and the buttocks before he was arrested. He was uninjured and was not in possession of an airline ticket.

The police report says Haynes possessed nunchukas, but a Tallahassee Police Department spokesman said an officer made an error in writing the report. Haynes did not have any weapons.

The officer who tased Haynes wanted to stop him before he could reach the airport terminal. He wrote in the report he was unsure how close other officers were.

"The TSA checkpoint is not secure and the subject may have been able to access the air side of the airport terminal," the police report says.

Airport director Chris Curry said airport runway traffic does not begin until around 6 a.m. on average and there was no impact on operations.

Haynes told police he knew the officer was telling him to stop and that he would be tased. After he was detained, he said, "I kinda always wanted to be tased."

He also told the officer his name was God and "was deep within sleep, like beyond sleep."

Police were unable to tell if Haynes was under the influence at the time, court records say.

An airport baggage porter told police he saw Haynes pull into the airport, heard him say he had a plane to catch and also corroborated the officer's commands for him to stop.

Haynes, a Florida A&M University student, was taken into custody under the Baker Act and taken to Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare for an evaluation, according to the police report.