Stun Device Used to Subdue Suspect

CHATSWORTH — Police arrested a man on suspicion of grand theft auto Thursday minutes after the assailant tried to snatch car keys from an employee leaving work at an office park, authorities said.

The incident occurred about 6:45 p.m. in a parking lot at Plummer Street and Oakdale Avenue, according to police.

The manager of a lingerie business was walking to her car when she was confronted by the man--whose name and age were not immediately available--demanding her car keys, officers said.

The manager ran back into the building and called police, who arrived moments later and found the assailant walking away, they said.

Darts from a Taser, an electrical shock device, were fired into the suspect when he resisted, officers said.

The darts, which stick in a suspect’s flesh or clothing, are connected to wires that allow officers to administer a jolt of electricity. The shock is not supposed to do permanent harm, but incapacitates the person’s muscular control.

The man was treated for cuts to his hands he suffered on a fence while trying to evade police, authorities said.