Smith declined to comment on the incident.

St. John said the man was sweating profusely and fought with officers. He said officers thought he was on drugs. After warning the man several times, an officer stunned the man with a Taser in the upper back, but it had no effect, St. John said. A Taser fires nonlethal electric probes intended to incapacitate a person.

In this case, Billings Police Sgt. Kevin Iffland said officers didn't fire the probes. Instead, they removed the probes and attempted to stun the man by placing the stun gun directly against his skin.

Iffland said that still results in a shock, but it is less intense than if the probes are fired into the skin.

A second officer used his stun gun on the man again, but it still had no effect. The officer then used the stun gun on the man's leg, after which they were able to get him into the back of a patrol car.

The man never stopped fighting, even at the jail, according to the press release. At the jail, detention officers hit him again with a stun gun, and the man was put into a restraint chair. He was checked by jail medical officers, who found him to be stable.