NORTH BONNEVILLE, Wash. — A man who used a stun gun on his 79-year-old grandmother-in-law after an argument over how to discipline his toddler son was arrested for investigation of domestic violence assault.
Aaron de Bruyn, 26, was cited with fourth-degree domestic violence assault Wednesday and was released from the Skamania County Jail Thursday afternoon, said Calvin Owens, police chief in this town about 30 miles up the Columbia River from Portland, Ore.
The argument began Wednesday morning when his 7-month-old son tried to reach behind the family's entertainment system to grab the electrical wires, de Bruyn told The Columbian newspaper of Vancouver.
Fearing the boy would shock himself, he told the boy "no" a couple of times and gave the child a swat on his diapered bottom.
De Bruyn said his grandmother-in-law, Rosemary Garlock, told him that was child abuse and threatened to have the child taken away. He said he then told Garlock to leave and she refused.
After an argument that lasted several minutes, he pulled out his Taser stun gun and told her he would use it on her if she didn't leave within 60 seconds. He counted down, and when she didn't leave, he shocked her on her right shoulder as she sat on the living room couch.
"She yelped, because getting Tased hurts," de Bruyn said. "She started screaming at the top of her lungs to call 911."
Garlock did not need medical attention.
De Bruyn said he had the 50,000-volt Taser X26 energy weapon in case he was confronted with a burglar in his house. He said he was the one who called authorities, saying he had a relative in his house who would not leave.
De Bruyn's stun gun was confiscated.
"If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't," he said. "It's pretty intimidating, everything that's been going on. I've never been in jail or in court, never been in trouble with the law."
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