YOUNGSTOWN Lengthy chase on foot leads police to arrest man on drug, gun charges

By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- As Jawan L. Tate ran to escape capture he tossed a loaded gun, but kept a lighted marijuana cigar clenched firmly in his mouth, police say.
The foot chase started at 150 Chicago Ave., where members of the vice squad and Mahoning Valley Drug Task Force showed up with a search warrant Thursday evening. The officers saw three men in the driveway and ordered them to lie on the ground.
Two complied, but Tate, who lives at that South Side address, took off running through rear yards toward West Earl Street, Patrolmen Paul Brown and Sam Mosca said in their report.
Weapon: As Tate ran, vice squad officers saw him pull a gun out of his waistband and tuck it under his left arm. They also noticed what appeared to be a marijuana cigar, commonly called a blunt, burning in his mouth.
Tate found himself being trailed not only by two officers and a dog on foot but by four more officers in cruisers driving north on Oak Hill, keeping him in sight.
At some point, Tate tossed the gun into a wooded area in the 100 block of West Earl, police said. The 23-year-old man continued his sprint through rear yards, still with the lighted cigar in his mouth, and then crossed over West Glenaven Avenue, reports show.
As Lt. William Powell, vice squad commander, Patrolman Steve Schiffhauer and his dog, Rico, came up behind Tate on foot, they converged in the 130 block of West Glenaven with the other officers who had followed in cruisers.
Tate finally stopped running and let the cigar drop from his mouth. He tried to run again, police said, when told he was under arrest on charges of carrying a concealed weapon and drug-abuse marijuana.
Resistance: Reports show that Tate used both hands to push Patrolman Stephen Price in the chest and the officer tackled him to the ground. When Mosca and Brown joined in, Tate kicked at the officers before being handcuffed, reports show.
Brown recovered the suspected marijuana blunt and Rico, led by Schiffhauer, then tracked to the gun and sniffed it out in heavily wooded brush. The .40-caliber handgun was loaded and had one round in the chamber, reports show.
At Tate's arraignment Friday in municipal court, Judge Robert A. Douglas Jr. set bond at $23,000 cash or surety on charges of resisting arrest, carrying a concealed weapon, possession of drugs and illegal possession of a weapon.
Tate will be back in court Sept. 14 for a preliminary hearing.
meade@vindy.com