In a situation a Meridian Police Department spokesman describes as “unusual,” a Meridian woman is in the Ada County Jail charged with trying to tase multiple officers with a stun gun.
According to Meridian Police Deputy Chief Tracy Basterrechea, Danielle Davis, 25, met her ex-husband and an unidentified person in a parking lot at Linder and McMillan Roads about 7:40 p.m. Wednesday.
Basterrechea said the arranged meeting involved the couple’s child. Neither parent evidently has legal custody, he stated, although the father is believed to be the child’s primary custodian.
During the meeting, Davis allegedly displayed a stun gun.
“She also claimed to have a knife in her possession and made a threat with it, but no knife was displayed,” Basterrechea said.
The woman then left the scene with the child.
An alert was issued for the woman and her vehicle to local law enforcement agencies.
Meridian Police detectives and several uniformed officers later located Davis and the child in a retail store’s parking lot along Fairview Avenue.
“We had three plainclothes detectives and numerous officers on the scene,” Basterrechea said. “They all clearly identified themselves (to Davis) as law enforcement officers.”
When they confronted her, Basterrechea said, Davis reportedly displayed the stun gun and allegedly tried to taze the officers.
The officers were able to wrestle the weapon away from Davis and take her into custody.
Basterrechea said officers also found a knife in her possession.
The child was taken into protective custody.
Davis now faces three separate charges of assault or battery on law enforcement officers, carrying a concealed weapon without a license, injury to a child, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (all felonies).
She also faces two misdemeanors: resisting officers and carrying a concealed weapon.
“It is rare for us to have a situation like this where a person (reportedly) comes prepared with a weapon in the taking of a child, then approaches multiple officers with the weapon,” Basterrechea stated.
Davis is scheduled to make her initial court appearance Thursday afternoon.
