SOUTH PORTLAND — Police used a Taser early this morning to disable a distraught South Portland man who was injuring himself with a knife.

Police were called to a Dracut Street apartment for a report of a man who had been stabbed. They found a 35-year-old man yelling at them from the bottom of a darkened basement stairwell.

The man, who had cut himself, brandished a knife then threatened to cut his own throat, asking that the officers shoot him, police said.

Police used a Taser electronic control device to temporarily disable the man and then take him into custody, police said.

The man was taken to Maine Medical Center for treatment of his self-inflicted injuries and mental health evaluation.