Police apprehended a man who pulled a knife on a clerk at 7-Eleven in Maryland. Mark Segraves reports.
A man who wanted a refund on a $10 phone card pulled a knife at a 7-Eleven in Maryland last week, police said.
Rodney Taylor-Smith wielded a double-bladed knife in the store on Wisteria Drive in Germantown about 5:30 p.m. Nov. 20 when he was told he needed a receipt to get the refund, police said.
A clerk called 911 but hung up before talking to the dispatcher, police said.
The dispatcher called back, and the clerk said, “I cannot talk to you because I have trouble. Can you come fast? Please help.”
Montgomery County police Officer Laura Myers was the first to arrive.
“I knew I had to get my weapon on him and start making commands,” she said.
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She ordered the customers to move to the back of the store away from Taylor-Smith.
“There was a little girl and her mom and several civilians in addition to the two employees that were behind the counter, and I had to get them all out of there,” she said.
Other officers arrived and ordered the man to drop the knife, but he refused, police said.
Myers said she tried twice to subdue him with a Taser. He didn’t go down but he did put away the knife, police said.
“If he decides to take that knife out and come at us, one of us is getting stabbed,” Sgt. Matthew Krest said.
After several minutes, Taylor-Smith started walking toward police. Krest grabbed a shovel that was on display, saying he just didn’t want to shoot the man.
“I was 100% sure that he was coming at us, there wasn’t much time left and that was going to be our best opportunity to subdue him,” he said. “And I was pretty confident I could get to him and I knew my officers were going to be coming in right behind me, so I just went for it.”
He tackled him without anyone getting injured.
Taylor-Smith, 47, is charged with multiple counts of first-degree assault, second-degree assault and reckless endangerment and is being held without bond.
The incident was caught on police body cameras.
