Cops taser naked doorbell-ringing giant

Knock down ginger, California style

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 14th August 2009 11:33 GMT

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A 6ft 7in San Fransisco man who decided to indulge in some light knock down ginger while wearing only tennis shoes ended up at the receiving end of a Taser, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Two residents of the Woodside and Portola Valley area, south of Redwood City, reported that Peter Allen Steele, 38, was "standing naked outside their homes on 11 July after he rang their doorbells".

San Mateo County sheriff's deputies sent to investigate spotted Steele in a car, but he attempted to make a motorised escape. Having popped the car's tyres after hitting the kerb, Steel jumped from the vehicle, "burst into a home through the garage" and then legged it into a wooded area where deputies cornered the butt-naked perp.

Officers were obliged to taser the struggling 250lb fugitive, without effect, so they let him have it with a bean-bag gun.

Steele earlier this week pleaded not guilty in San Mateo County Superior Court to charges "that he rang doorbells while naked". He's currently in jail in lieu of $60,000 bail, and looks likely to add to his previous convictions for "a felony assault in San Francisco, stalking, making threats and evading police". ®

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