So THAT’S where the darn thing went!
A three-time felon is facing a fresh felony weapons charge after cops allegedly found a stolen CPD taser in his car during a traffic stop over the weekend. Prosecutors said the Taser was one of many pieces of equipment that were either lost or stolen from Chicago police during riots, looting, and protests this year.
Sunday evening, police pulled over 26-year-old Drevon Jackson for a traffic violation on the West Side and took him into custody for allegedly driving without a license.
A passenger in Jackson’s car took his keys, refused to give the keys to police, and battered officers, prosecutors said. So, they arrested her, too.
Cops agreed to let Jackson’s relatives collect items from the vehicle before police towed it. As officers helped them remove property from Jackson’s car, an officer discovered a Chicago Police Department taser next to a bag, prosecutors said.
Investigators found the taser’s serial number and determined that the device went missing during a riot and looting at Foot Locker, 3900 West Madison, on May 31, according to prosecutors. Jackson allegedly told police he found the taser during the civil unrest, and he’s had it ever since.
Prosecutors said Jackson has been sent to prison twice for gun violations — once in 2014 and again in 2015. He is now charged with driving on a suspended license and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in the taser case.
Judge Mary Marubio set Jackson’s bail at $5,000. He went home by posting a $500 deposit bond.
During Jackson’s bail hearing, prosecutors said Chicago cops lost other tasers and CPD property during uprisings and protests during the spring and summer.
In August, prosecutors charged a 24-year-old Lower West Side woman with felony theft of government property after she allegedly stole a cop’s bodyworn camera when it fell from his vest during a protest in the Loop.
Nicoline Arlet grabbed the cop’s camera off the ground, put it in her backpack, and fled, prosecutors said. But other officers saw the whole thing happen via surveillance cameras, and they dispatched a description of the thief to cops on the ground.
Arlet, who works as a software engineer for a bank, was arrested a few minutes later when cops saw her about five blocks away. The body camera was in her backpack, according to prosecutors.