Hunter
03/24/21
An Iowa City man was taken into custody Tuesday after police stopped him on a known warrant and discovered that he had keys to a reportedly stolen car on his person.
According to arrest reports, 18-year-old Byron Jackson of Paddock Circle was stopped as he was walking westbound on Highway 6 near Gilbert Street. The officer was aware that Jackson was wanted on a warrant stemming from an incident involving an Iowa City Transit driver last month. After confirming the warrant was still active, he was taken into custody.
A subsequent search of Jackson showed that he had keys to three different model vehicles. Under Miranda, he was asked about them and allegedly admitted to possessing a vehicle that wasn’t his and driving it to the 2000 block of Keokuk Street where he parked it. A check of the vehicle found that it had been reported stolen earlier that day. When the victim was contacted, he said he didn’t know Jackson and didn’t give him permission to drive his vehicle.
The previous warrant involved Jackson and the transit driver the morning of February 6th. The driver reported confronting Jackson about properly wearing a facemask while on the bus. Jackson then reportedly became angry, accused the driver of being disrespectful to him, and allegedly said that he would knock the ess out of the driver next time before he left the bus.
Jackson then allegedly began yelling at the driver while outside, then ran back on the bus to reportedly throw a flurry of punches at the driver. The driver jerked his head away to avoid the punches, but struck his head against the bus window, causing pain. Jackson fled before officers arrived.
Jackson faces a 2nd degree Burglary charge for the February incident, and a 2nd degree Theft charge for Tuesday’s incident. If convicted on both charges, he could be sentenced to up to fifteen years in prison.