Man Found 'Huffing' Nitrous Oxide Several Times In San Mateo County: Police

COLMA, CA — Officers have come across the same man at least three times recently who was inhaling Nitrous Oxide on the streets of Colma, police announced on Monday.

At around 10 a.m. on Sept. 18, a Colma Police Department officer said he saw a man with an air duster canister pressed against his mouth and was "huffing" Nitrous Oxide near the area of Colma Boulevard and El Camino Real.

After a short foot pursuit, the officer attempted to put the man in handcuffs but the man resisted and continued to inhale the air canister, police said.

The officer said it wasn't until he pulled the air canister away from the man's mouth that he stopped resisting.

He was placed into the San Mateo County Jail for resisting a peace officer and being in possession of a substance similar to toluene.

At around 7 a.m. on Sept. 19, another Colma officer was patrolling the Colma BART station when he came across the same man. This time he was lying on the ground surrounded by air duster canisters and was in the process of inhaling one of them.

The officer said he issued the man a citation with a court date for being in possession of a substance similar to toluene and transported him to a medical facility for an evaluation.

Later that same day at around 9:53 p.m., a different Colma officer said he was driving southbound on Junipero Serra Boulevard near the Serra Shopping Center when he saw the same man sitting on the sidewalk inhaling an air canister.

The officer arrested him, again, and booked him into the San Mateo County Jail for being in possession of a substance similar to toluene.