Man Accused Of Pulling Knife On Newton Resident, Gets Arrested

NEWTON, MA — A Harrington Street resident confronted a man who had apparently just broken into his house; got into a fight with the man, had a knife pulled on him and then chased him down the street alerting neighbors to call the police Tuesday night, police said.

That lead police to arrest Gene Arthur Jackson Jr,51, of Dorchester and charge him with breaking and entering during the night, a felony and assault with a dangerous weapon, the knife, and assault and battery.

The Harrington Street resident was just getting back from a walk around 7: 15 p.m., when he noticed something wasn't right, the basement light was on he told police. So the Newton man walked down his driveway toward the back of his house to get a closer look. That's when he saw a man in his basement looking at his bikes. He told police he kept his eyes on Jackson and picked up a piece of wood. Right after that, the man, later identified as Jackson, came out of the house onto the porch holding a container.

The Harrington resident asked Jackson what he was doing in his house, according to police, who redacted Jackson's response in a report. As he walked down the back porch stairs, Jackson lunged at the resident of the home, police said.

The two got into a wrestling match, threw punches and at one point, the resident said he saw Jackson reach into his jacket pocket, but before he could do anything with whatever it was, the Harrington Street resident took the piece of wood and hit Jackson with it. A knife fell to the ground.

The two continued to fight until Jackson was able to get loose and start to run. As he was
running after Jackson toward Washington Street the Newton man yelled for help and asked neighbors to call the police. It worked; a couple on the street did just that after they saw the two running down the street.

When police arrived they saw the resident near the corner of Washington and Harrington streets, and he told police what happened and which way Jackson ran. Police took Jackson into custody behind the Star Market on Austin Street.

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Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch Staff