By Joe Johnson
An Athens drug suspect reportedly was arrested this week after he dropped a loaded gun during a foot chase with officers in a westside housing complex.
According to an Athens-Clarke County police report. The incident began at about 11 a.m. Tuesday when officers were requested to make a house check on Hawthorne Avenue Extension and Columbia Brookside Apartments.
While in the area, according to the report officers walked the streets looking for occupied cars, and one officer encountered 19-year-old Jonathan Tyreek Edwards in the passenger seat of a parked car.
After the officer spotted a prescription drug bottle with the label ripped off, Edwards reportedly said it belonged to someone else and that he was just hanging out, but when the officer had Edwards exit the car to confirm his identity, the suspect took off running into the apartment complex.
The police report noted that during the ensuing foot pursuit, Edwards dropped a loaded semiautomatic pistol with a round in the chamber, and in the glove box of the car in which Edwards had been sitting, officers located another pistol, with 16 rounds in the magazine and a second magazine containing eight rounds.
Officer took Edwards into custody after using a Taser on him, and when he was searched, Edwards was found to be in possession of bags of cocaine and fentanyl, in greater quantities than for personal use, according to the report.
Edwards was charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer because one of the cops reported that while chasing the suspect he feared for his life, as Edwards “had control” of the loaded pistol prior to dropping it, the report indicated.
The Warren Way resident was additionally charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, three counts of obstruction of law enforcement, loitering, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.