MANASSAS, Va. -- The bare facts: residents awoke to a naked man yelling in their living room early Tuesday. But it wasn't long until police arrived and were forced to zap the nude intruder with stun guns.
Police say it happened about 4:10 a.m. in the 8900 block of Sweetbriar Street.
A 20-year-old man sleeping on the couch was awakened by the naked man, who was yelling obscenities, said Manassas police spokesman Sgt. Tim Neumann.
The victim shouted at the naked man to leave, but he refused, Neumann said.
The shouting roused the other people who live in the house and they called police.
With cops on the way, the naked man made a break for the sliding glass back door and went onto the porch. The victim closed and locked the door behind him.
The naked truth: when officers arrived they found the man, still without clothes, standing on the back porch, now shouting obscenities at them, said Neumann.
The man refused to comply with officers' commands and then he "had to be tased," Neumann said.
Police charged 22-year-old Zachary Catlin of 17551 Wayside Drive in Dumfries with public drunkenness, burglary, indecent exposure and resisting arrest, said Neumann.
The incident got some regional attention Tuesday, when someone called a local radio show talking about the incident. But Neumann did not confirm the story until Wednesday morning.
Catlin is being held without bond at the Prince William-Manassas regional jail and is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 8.
As a rule, Manassas police use Tasers when a person doesn't comply with an officer's commands and safety is compromised, said Neumann.
Only a few officers in Manassas are equipped with the device because of budget constraints. Each time a department stun gun is fired, police hold onto the square cartridge fired from the butt of the weapon for its serial number. That information is logged into records, along with the day and time it was fired.
It's not often that law enforcement agencies in the region have to tase a naked man, but it does seem to be some a theme across the country.
Last month in Destin, Fla., a 27-year-old man who police said broke into a pickup, defecated inside the cab and slept there, was tased when, police say, he resisted arrest.
He, too, was naked.
And in an incident in September, a naked, distraught man in New York fell 10 feet to his death from the ledge of a building after he was tased by police officers there.
The 35-year-old man had reportedly threatened to kill himself earlier in the day before he was tased.
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