SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- Police wrestled a handgun from a man and arrested him on his doorstep early Thursday during an investigation of a 911 hang-up at his home.
Donald Lee Jackson, 62, was booked into County Jail on suspicion of illegal possession of a firearm, police said. He was not allowed to own the Colt .45-caliber handgun because he was recently detained for a mental health evaluation, Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark said.
Shortly before 3:40 a.m., someone dialed 911 and hung up on the 1300 block of Pacific Avenue.
After two officers arrived at Jackson's door and spoke to him, he stepped away from the door, pulled up his shirt and grabbed for a gun in a holster in his pants, Clark said.
Officers tackled Jackson and wrestled the gun away from him. The gun, which was not loaded, "skipped away from him," Clark said.
Police recovered it and detained Jackson, who is 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 205 pounds.
Jackson "was very lucky that he was not shot by police trying to protect themselves," Clark said.
Jackson's arrest comes about three weeks after two Santa Cruz police detectives were shot to death near a man's doorstep while investigating a groping allegation. Sgt. Loran "Butch" Baker and detective Elizabeth Butler were killed Feb. 26 by Jeremy Peter Goulet, who was shot to death by authorities about 30 minutes later.
Police said the visit to Jackson's home was not the first.
Officers
had been called to the home in February after neighbors reported Jackson was "yelling and pounding on walls," Clark said. Jackson was transported to Dominican Hospital's Behavioral Health Unit for a mental evaluation, authorities said.
Because of that detention and a determination that he was a danger to himself and others, Jackson could not legally have a gun, police said.
The California Health and Safety Code essentially prohibits a person who is detained for mental health problems from owning a gun within five years of the detention, according to police.
Jackson told officers he bought the Colt at a gun show at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds on Sunday. Police said records for the gun were not immediately available because of its age.
Investigators are trying to determine how Jackson obtained it.
Copyright 2013 - Santa Cruz Sentinel, Calif.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
