Deputy gets probation for drunken Tasering

PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 1 (UPI) -- An Oregon sheriff's deputy has been sentenced to two years probation and ordered to stay off booze for using a stun gun in a strip club.

Steven Cowles, 45, agreed to plead no contest to unlawful use of a stun gun and to enter an alcohol evaluation program, The (Portland) Oregonian reported. During a court appearance Wednesday, he was told part of his sentence will be that he must stay away from bars, taverns and clubs while he is on probation.

Cowles, a guard at the Multnomah County Jail, fired his Taser at a man he thought was threatening a stripper at Jody's Bar and Grill in Portland.

"He was completely out of line," the bartender who was at the club that night told The Oregonian. "Absolutely nothing happened that night for him to react like that. He'd never acted that way here before."

Police said Cowles was so drunk he was taken from the club to a detox center.