Man pulls knife on Astoria police

Tuesday, October 10, 2006


A Clatsop County Sheriff's deputy and an Astoria police officer wrestled a man to the floor and stunned him with a Taser gun Monday afternoon inside a Clatsop Community College classroom, where they had gone to arrest him on a felony warrant, Sheriff's Sgt. Mark Whisler said today. Whisler said Kelly Lee Hunt, 37, of Astoria, was seated in front of a computer inside Towler Hall when Deputy Ken McCoy and Officer Ken Hansen approached him shortly after noon and told him to stand up. When Hansen and McCoy tried to handcuff Hunt, he attempted to escape and took a knife out of his pocket. When he refused to drop the knife, the officers wrestled him to the floor and then Tasered him, Whisler said.

Hunt was lodged at Clatsop County Jail on charges of assaulting a public safety officer, third-degree attempted escape, ex-convict in possession of a weapon, resisting arrest and failure to appear in court on a felony charge. Whisler said the original charge against Hunt was for manufacture and delivery of a controlled substance. Hunt was also held on a Columbia County warrant for five counts of contempt.