Mesa police use grappler to immobilize speeding man who allegedly fired shots at residence

PHOENIX — Mesa police on Tuesday used a grappler device to stop a man in his tracks who was speeding and had fired shots at a residence, authorities said.

The man, identified as 21-year-old Tre-Shawn Dorsett, was speeding on Lazona Drive just before 9 a.m. in a black Dodge Charger with a temporary registration tag, the Mesa Police Department said in a press release.

Dorsett also held a handgun outside of his window and fired four shots toward a residence after yelling and mocking a person who asked him to slow down, police said, proceeding to fire an additional two rounds from the car while speeding off.

Officers located the vehicle and followed it in conjunction with the Mesa Police Air Unit into Phoenix, police said, where Dorsett was stopped with the use of a grappler. The grappler is a rope-like material that is deployed from the front of a patrol car and wraps around one of the back tires to bring the car to a halt.

Dorsett was taken into custody without further incident and booked on a $50,000 bond with felony charges of discharging a firearm within city limits and prohibited possessor.

The man allegedly admitted to police that he was speeding and somebody was yelling at him but denied having a confrontation with anyone, despite police saying they showed Dorsett a picture of him antagonizing the individual who asked him to slow down.

The device, known as The Grappler Police Bumper, was created by Valley resident Leonard Stock and is manufactured in the Phoenix area, according to the official website.

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