AMHERST: Taser used to subdue teen with knife to infant’s neck

By Eric DuVall
Niagara Gazette

June 11, 2009 08:13 pm

— Police used a Taser to subdue a man stabbing a six-month-old infant in the neck early Thursday during a violent domestic dispute.
The infant suffered a cut that was termed “substantial” — but not life-threatening — according to Amherst Assistant Police Chief Timothy Green. The child was taken to Women and Children’s Hospital in Buffalo for treatment.
Police charged Jeffrey Hernandez, 19, of Sweeney Street, North Tonawanda, with two counts of attempted murder, first-degree assault, second-degree attempted assault and criminal possession of a weapon. He was arraigned in front of Amherst Town Justice Geoffrey Klein and is being held without bail.
A distraught 19-year-old woman called 911 at 3:45 a.m. Thursday and said that her boyfriend, later identified as Hernandez, had attacked her and her newborn child with a knife, according to Green. When officers arrived at the woman’s Traverse Boulevard apartment, they found her outside. The woman had suffered multiple cuts to her face and body. The victim told officers Hernandez was still inside with her young child.
When officers entered the apartment, they found Hernandez holding the baby with a knife to its throat. With guns drawn, police told Hernandez to put the child down, but the situation escalated.
“There came a point in time where he started to stab the side of (child’s) neck with the knife,” Green said. “An officer carrying a Taser was able to deploy the Taser, and that caused (Hernandez) to release the baby.”
The child’s mother was treated by paramedics at the scene and released.
“Mom is down at the hospital with the baby and it looks like they’re going to be OK,” Green said.
The assistant chief credited the officer’s use of the Taser in bringing the child out of the terrifying situation alive.
“We were very fortunate in this situation that somebody had a Taser,” he said. “The other option would have been to use a firearm. You really don’t want to use a firearm when a baby is there. And it was an apartment. That bullet can go anywhere.”
Police said Hernandez has some criminal record but the extent of it is still being determined. Green said detectives planned to follow up and see whether there was a history of domestic violence at the girl’s apartment.