A Duval Street man has been charged with Reckless Endangerment and Possession of a Handgun while Under the Influence after allegedly discharging his pistol, sending a bullet into another house.
According to a police report, officers were called to a Fike Drive address on Monday afternoon in regards to a “shots fired” call. Dispatch advised that the complainant then cancelled the call because it was her neighbor who had just bought a new pistol and experienced an accidental discharge.
The report states that when an officer arrived they spoke with Jackie Wayne Waller. Waller, according to police, “seemed intoxicated, due to his slurred speech” and the smell of alcohol on his breath. Waller told officers that he was at his landlord’s house in the 1400 block of South Moore and that he had been drinking. According to the report, Waller said that he was handling a Glock 22 that he had just purchased earlier in the day. While attempting to load the weapon, Waller said that he inserted the magazine, pulled the slide rearward and when he released the slide the weapon fired.
The report states that the round from the Glock traveled through the dining room door leading to the garage, through the wall on the side of the garage, into the victim’s rear window, through her couch and lodged in the victim’s front door. The approximate value of the damage was placed at $1,200.
The report states that the woman who lives in the house in which the bullet lodged was in the kitchen at the time the round came through the window, making a loud “ping.” This sound prompted her to look around her house. When the woman noticed the bullet lodged in the front door she called police.
According to the report, Waller told police that he had consumed three or four beers along with four shots of whiskey, prior to the incident.
The report states that the weapon was seized along with ammunition and a holster. All the items were placed into ERPD property and evidence.
_ Two people were arrested last week after police saw a car they were traveling in driving on the wrong side of the street.
According to a police report, an officer saw a black Chevy Impala driving on the wrong side of the road on Graston Avenue. When the officer attempted to initiate a stop, the vehicle sped away on Wentworth Avenue. The vehicle turned north on Spring Creek Road after running the stop sign, then left the roadway to drive around traffic in the 900 block of Spring Creek Road. According to the report, the vehicle continued to Brainerd Road but stopped at Pisgah Road due to damage to the car.
The driver of the car, Jeffery Demar Thomas, was removed from the car and taken into custody. While taking Thomas into custody, the report states that the officer could smell a strong odor of marijuana in the vehicle. The officer also observed a set of digital scales on the console of the car with some drug residue on the console.
The back seat passenger, Deangelo Foster, was found with a small amount of marijuana in his sock. Foster, the report states, was sitting next to a leather bag in the back seat that contained two men’s watches, a loaded Taurus PT 111 9 mm handgun and 17 suspected MDMA (ecstasy) tablets.
A woman passenger, who was not identified in the report, was taken to jail on outstanding warrants.
Thomas, 19, of a Wentworth Avenue address, was charged with Felony Evading Arrest, Failure to Maintain Lane and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Foster, 21, of a Florida Avenue address in Chattanooga, was charged with Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Schedule I for Resale and Possession of a Firearm during a Dangerous Felony.
