Police in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, held a news conference Tuesday to address an incident Sunday evening when they responded to reports of a naked man standing in the middle of a street. The Green Bay Press-Cazette reported that on Friday, Travis Tingler, 33, had shed his clothes and was bellowing at a house on the street that he had a knife and was going to gut people inside.
According to a Manitowoc Police Department report, an officer told Tingler he could not be in the street with no clothes on. The report said Tingler "had a dazed appearance, blank stare and sweated profusely."
“This guy, when they first came, he was walking down the street. He was naked,” Assistant Police Chief Scott Luchterhand said at the news conference.
WBAY reported that when an officer asked Tingler what he was doing, Tingler said it was not illegal to walk around naked and he was not doing anything wrong.
“Based on the officer’s observations, they believed that he was under the influence of something,” Detective Andrew Trilling said.
Police called dispatchers, who told them Tingler had a warrant out for his arrest connected to something "OWI-related," according to police at the conference.
Officers then handcuffed Tingler and attempted to put pants on him.
A woman told police that Tingler was in a relationship with her mother, and that he had been drinking for a few hours and began acting erratically.
Tingler refused to get in the squad car and tussled with officers. At some point in the struggle, he managed to get his hands on a lighter; police had found a collection of his cigarette butts on a nearby porch.
Police deployed a Taser three times.
"The second Taser hit him in the hand that was holding the lighter," Luchterhand said, according to WLUK.
Trilling said the Taser deployment led to a “flame burst.”
One officer attempted to smother the fire. Tingler continued to fight and punched an officer in the face. After a third Taser deployment, Tingler cooperated.
Tingler had a blood-alcohol level of 0.177. Police are recommending Tingler be charged with resisting arrest, battery to an officer and lewd and lascivious behavior.
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