The Harford County man hospitalized after being shocked with a taser says he didn’t assault a deputy as alleged, but plans to turn himself in once he recovers.

Richard Stacey, a resident of Melrose Court in Forest Hill, passed out and hit his head when he was tasered by a Harford County Sheriff’s deputy last Thursday. Police say he shoved the deputy and resisted arrest after a pair of speeding motorcyclists zoomed through a radar checkpoint.

Stacey denied allegations that he was the second motorcyclist and pushed the deputy. Though police had planned to charge Stacey once he was released from Shock Trauma, he checked out the same night and left before deputies arrived to arrest him.

“To go to the Harford County Detention Center now, with the sheriff’s office running it? I can’t make it in my condition,” Stacey said Thursday. He has stitches in his nose and lip, and said he is unable to eat or drink.

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“As soon as my nose is taken care of, I’ll go down to the detention center. I’ve never run from anything in my life.”

Police doubt his intentions — he told WJZ-TV last week he would turn himself in Sunday, said sheriff’s office spokeswoman Sgt. Christina Presberry.

Stacey said he became involved when he saw a deputy talking to his friend in the 2200 block of Melrose Lane last Thursday. The deputy asked Stacey three times for his license, but Stacey said he refused and was starting to walk away when the barbs delivering the taser’s shock hit him in the back of the head. He hit his head as he passed out, and said he woke up aboard a helicopter en route to Shock Trauma.

Four people have died in Maryland this year after being hit with taser shocks.

Presberry said she would not respond to Stacey’s allegations.

“He’s going to try and make himself look better ... He knows what happened and the deputy knows what happened,” Presberry said. A warrant was issued for his arrest last Thursday, she said.

Presberry said she could not discuss the tasering in detail because it is under investigation: As in most cases where deputies use force in apprehending a suspect, a supervisor will conduct a “use of force” report that then goes to a review committee.

msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com