By Linda Conner Lambeck
Connecticut Post Online
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Police tasered a city man the say had a loaded .357 magnum gun hidden in the pocket of his sweatshirt until he dumped it and refused to stop.
Kevin “Jr.” Jackson, 19, of 114 Caroline Street faces a host of charges including criminal trespass, carrying a pistol without a permit, criminal possession of a firearm, reckless endangerment, tampering with evidence, breach of peace and interfering with an officer. He was held on a $150,000 bond.
Police on patrol spotted Jackson walking on Berkshire street at 6:30 p.m. Saturday and recognized him as someone who had been identified as tossing a gun in the playground at Hallet and Stillman Street three weeks earlier.
When police turned their patrol car around, Jackson ran and slipped into the yard at 511 Brooks Street, dropping a firearm over a fence toward East Main Street.
Police Officer Jason Amato chased Jackson and at gunpoint ordered him to turn around. Jackson refused and continue to try and climb over six-foot-high fence. At one point, he turned toward the officer and reached for his waist. Fearing he had another weapon, Amato warned him to stop or he would shoot. Jackson turned back toward the fence and tried to scale it again.
Amato then removed his departmental taser and used it after Jackson failed orders to stop.
The taser prongs struck Jackson in the back. Police said Jackson began screaming for help, which drew a large crowd. His actions and comments towards family and friends made the scene unstable, said police.
Jackson was treated and released from Bridgeport Hospital with no documented injuries.
Police confiscated a .357 Magnum with a wood handle, registered to an East Lyme man. It was loaded with five live lead tipped rounds, police said.
Copyright 2009 MediaNews Group, Inc.