Sheriff: Deputies feared for lives, used stun gun on autistic boy, 9, with kitchen knives

FINKSBURG, Md. (AP) -- A stun gun was used on a 9-year-old boy a Maryland sheriff says was threatening his mother and deputies with two kitchen knives.

The Carroll County Times reports that the encounter happened Wednesday night at a Finksburg home and described the boy as autistic.

Sheriff Jim DeWees says deputies tried to talk the boy into dropping the knives and put space between the boy and themselves, but the boy kept approaching them. He says a deputy used the stun gun when it got to a point where their lives were in danger.

DeWees says it appears they "acted appropriately and used the right amount of force under the circumstances."

The boy was given medical attention and taken to Carroll Hospital on an emergency petition.

DeWees says the state's attorney's office is reviewing the case.