By Nathan Hardin
nhardin@salisburypost.com
KANNAPOLIS ó A Kannapolis man pointed an Airsoft pistol at a Rowan County deputy Sunday afternoon and threatened to shoot the officer if he did not kill him.
According to the Rowan County Sheriffís Office, 56-year-old Michael Harrison was arrested in his 1303 Stone Ave. yard after deputies negotiated with him to place what they believed to a real pistol on the ground.
Airsoft guns look like real weapons but shoot pellets or BBs.
Harrison and his wife, 47-year-old Sarah Harrison, got into an argument earlier that day, the report said, and Michael Harrison choked her and threw her across the living room couch.
The report said their 16-year-old son intervened in the fight and Michael Harrison left the property in one of the familyís vehicles.
As Deputy M.L. Shrewsbury took statements from Sarah Harrison and her son at the house about 1:25 p.m., Michael Harrison returned to the home with an Airsoft handgun and pointed it at the officer.
The deputy took cover behind his patrol car with his weapon drawn and asked the man to lower his weapon.
The man begged the officer to shoot him, according to the report, and put the Airsoft gun to his own head.
Deputies took the man into custody after negotiating with him to drop his weapon in the yard.
As Shrewsbury was putting Harrison in handcuffs, the deputy saw that Harrison was holding a small razor in his hand and had cut himself along the right wrist, the report said.
Harrison was transported to the Magistrateís Office and charged with assault by strangulation and assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm.
While being processed at the office, Harrison withdrew a ěbroken crack pipe,î the report said, and began trying to cut his left wrist with a fragment of the smoking device.
EMS treated Harrison at the scene and deputies then took him to the Rowan County Detention Center.
ěOfficer Shrewsbury acted very professionally and used a lot of restraint, especially with having the weapon pointed at him,î Rowan County Sheriffís Office spokesman Capt. John Sifford said. ěHad Officer Shrewsbury not exhibited that restraint, it could have been very different.î
Harrison was in jail Monday with no bond.