Cops: Man who was shot grabbed trooper's Taser

A Delaware state trooper was injured when a man she was attempting to take into custody struck her with a cane, grabbed her stun gun and turned it on her, and she then wounded the suspect with a single shot from her firearm, state police said Thursday morning.

The incident happened just before 3 p.m. Wednesday outside a mobile home in the 3400 block of Judith Road, in a rural area northeast of Hartly.

State police Thursday morning identified the man shot as 47-year-old Glenn A. Sego Jr. and said he was in fair condition and his injuries are not life-threatening.

The trooper's name has not been released but Master Cpl. Gary Fournier said she is 25 years old,.

She was sent to the scene after a family member called 911 to report a suicidal male at the home, said Fournier, also a department spokesman.

As the trooper approached the home, Sego came out and began walking to the rear of the property, which was overgrown with tall weeds, Fournier said.

"The trooper followed Sego and began issuing commands for him to stop as she wanted to speak to him. He did not comply and she followed him behind an abandoned trailer and into the weeds," Fournier said.

"Sego began using a metal walking cane to strike the trooper several times in the upper torso," he said.

She then removed her police-issued Taser electronic control device, Fournier said, "but he was able to take it from her possession and utilize it on her."

She then fired the single shot from her department-issued handgun, striking Sego in a lower extremity, Fournier said.

Sego was taken by state police helicopter to Christiana Hospital.

The trooper was taken to Bayhealth/Kent General Hospital in Dover, where she was treated and released Wednesday evening.

Fournier said she has been with state police for a year and a half, assigned to Troop 3 patrol in the Dover-Camden area.

She was placed on administrative leave under state police policy after the incident pending outcome of the investigation.

Fournier said, "The trooper was not shot, was not injured by any gunshot or anything of that nature."

Ann Yoder, who lives nearby, said she heard a bang outside her home while inside with her son, but was unaware of the police action until a short time later.

"We just heard something that sounded like a firecracker. It was a 'pop' noise," Yoder said. "We were wondering what it was and then, not long after that, we went to pull out of the driveway to leave and there were a whole bunch of cop cars and the ambulance and everything pulling up."

The homes were clustered in a sparsely settled, mostly farmed section of western Kent County, along a road that forms part of a rough triangle connecting Hartly, Kenton and an intersection along Hartly Road, or Del. 44, west of Pearsons Corner.

Another nearby neighbor who declined to be named said there was a standoff incident involving the same cluster of mobile homes a few years ago. That incident was resolved peacefully, the neighbor said, but only after a large police presence and roadblock for a time prevented the neighbor from returning to his home.

Fournier said Sego would be charged with two counts of assault on a law enforcement officer and related counts when he is released from the hospital.

At least two other state troopers have been injured in incidents this year.

A trooper was wounded during the raid of a Bear home on Aug. 11. Master Cpl. Thad Boyce sustained abrasions in the right rear shoulder and right lower neck after a bullet hit his protective vest.

Cpl. Lloyd M. McCann was wounded June 25 and fatally shot Dennis Hicks following a chase that ended near Magnolia.

Contact Jeff Montgomery at (302) 463-3344 or jmontgomery@delawareonline.com.

Contact News Delivery Editor Jon P. Zaimes at (302) 324-2813 or jzaimes@delawareonline.com. On Twitter, @JZDelaware.