Man tasered after throwing knife at officer in Riverhead, police say

A Riverhead officer fired his Taser at a man Wednesday morning after police said he threw a knife at the officer, nearly hitting him.

Riverhead police were responding to a report of a man threatening someone with a knife about 10:30 a.m. when they found a man in the road on Osborn Avenue holding a large kitchen knife, authorities said.

An officer ordered him to drop the knife but the man began "aggressively approaching" the officer and threw the knife, police said.

The police officer fired his Taser and arrested Michael Miles, 46, of Riverhead, on charges of felony attempted aggravated assault on a police officer, menacing a police officer and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. Police said he was not injured.

Miles is set to be arraigned Thursday morning. It was not immediately clear if he was represented by counsel.

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.