Life Saved In Elmhurst Disturbance: Police

ELMHURST, IL – A life was saved last week while Elmhurst officers responded to a domestic disturbance in a local apartment complex, police said.

About 10 p.m. March 4, officers were called to the 100 block of East Schiller Street about a dispute between a 51-year-old man and a woman, according to a police news release.

The man had been drinking and punching doors in the apartment, so the woman asked him to leave. When the woman was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher, the man pulled out a large hunting knife, police said.

Three Elmhurst officers arrived, intending to go to the third-floor apartment. Instead, the man rushed to the lobby to confront them with a knife, getting within 5 feet of the officers, police said.

One officer drew his Taser while the others provided cover. They ordered the man to drop his knife, but he refused, the news release said.

The first officer deployed his Taser, while the other two handcuffed the 51-year-old, police said. He was taken to Elmhurst Hospital.

Officers checked on the woman, who was unharmed.

"The actions of armed suspects, not officers, often dictate how these situations end, sometimes involving deadly force," police said in the news release. "These officers worked as a team, providing the needed cover to protect themselves in combination with a Taser to safely subdue the man. The tactics used by these officers not only saved their own lives, but also the life of the man threatening them with a knife in a small building lobby."

People often read stories about situations involving police responses to substance abuse or mental illness, police said.

"We sometimes see stories where the incident ends in tragedy, but we rarely hear about the majority of these calls that are handled safely and heroically," the news release said. "EPD is proud of these officers and the professionalism they demonstrated that night."

Police said the man would be charged with three counts of aggravated assault once the hospital released him.