Anne Arundel police say they are encouraged by three recent arrests in which officers pulled out their new Tasers rather than resorting to physical — or even deadly — force.

“Our experiences with the Taser have been extremely positive so far,” police spokesman Cpl. Mark Shawkey said.

“They have been used to defuse some really nasty situations.”

The incidents were:

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» An Anne Arundel police officer Monday delivered a jolt to Sylvester W. George, 25, of Severn, who ignored the officer’s orders to stop and appeared to be reaching for something in his front pants pocket, police said.

George had peeled away from a group of men who were drinking alcoholic beverages in a Glen Burnie parking lot when police arrived. Police found a loaded .38-caliber revolver on the ground beneath him.

“If he would have displayed the gun, it would have become a deadly force situation,” Shawkey said.

» An Anne Arundel police officer on June 23 used a Taser on a man, suspected of using a long knife or a sword to assault a victim in Huntingtown, after he resisted arrest.

» An officer drew his Taser on a man brandishing a knife June 5 in Hanover. The suspect dropped the weapon after seeing the Taser’s red laser sight fixed on his chest.

At the start of June, the department distributed 10 Tasers to each district and several more to officers in the department’s special operations and criminal investigation units. Tasers can deliver a 50,000-volt shock and override a person’s nervous system, causing temporary muscle loss, according to Taser’s Web site. In Maryland, four people died this year after police used Tasers on them.

Examiner Staff Writer Jason Flanagan contributed to this report.

jpalazzolo@baltimoreexaminer.com