Police chief gives taser to citizen

A father waves a taser at a cell phone camera then points it at his son's back. The teen falls to the ground and out of the picture. Then he jumps up joining in the laughter of the other men.

The father then hands the taser back to its owner, a grinning Hallwood Chief of Police Wilson Glenn.

The town is home to nearly 300 residents. It sits about 2 hours away from Hampton Roads in Accomack County on the Eastern Shore.

WAVY.com caught up with Glenn outside his home in June. He wouldn't talk to us on camera about the incident but admitted he handed over his police weapon, claiming the video was just a joke. Glenn said he knew the whole thing was being videotaped.

Beyond that, he would only tell us the incident is being investigated. Whose investigating? WAVY.com learned it's the town council, who hired Chief Glenn in April 2006. No one from the council would comment. There's also no mention of the incident in council minutes for the past two months.

Mayor Timothy Raynor told WAVY.com over the phone, the incident "wasn't a big deal."

Glenn claims he is taser certified however, we checked and found no record.

As the video clearly shows, the X-26 taser is not being used as intended. So, WAVY.com sent the video to company representatives. Steve Tuttle, Vice President of Communications sent us the following statement:

While TASER International stands behind the safety of its life-saving technology, it is paramount that a successful TASER program requires clear use of force polices, stringent oversight and recurrent certified training.

WAVY.com discovered Hallwood does not have a policy which dictates how and when any weapon, including a taser, should be used.

Glenn ultimately blames someone trying to seek vengeance for leaking the video.

"We got a couple people in town trying to tear police department apart," he said.

WAVY.com told the Accomack County Commonwealth's Attorney Gary Agar about the video. He asked the state police to investigate. The investigation is currently ongoing.