Chicago police officers early Wednesday morning used a Taser on a man suspected of robbing a Walgreens store in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.
Witnesses told reporters at the scene that they were inside the store, at 1601 N. Wells St., at about 12:15 a.m. when they heard employees talking about a man who had stolen items from the store running away along the sidewalk.
A responding officer tried to stop the man using a Taser. Witnesses said the suspected thief went stiff and struck his head on a light pole when he was shocked by the device.
Patrons in a nearby bar told NBC Chicago they heard a loud bang and then the sound of the man hitting the pole.
"I went outside and took a look at what was going on. It was just a man laying in the street alongside the curb. And he just wasn't moving. And then maybe 10, 15 minutes after that an ambulance came, [they] put him on the stretcher and took him away," one witness said.
Another woman said she saw authorities doing chest compressions on the man. Police didn't confirm that detail but said the man was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. His condition was unknown as of 5 a.m.
Police said it is standard procedure to transport someone to a hospital if they've been shocked by a Taser.
