This morning, Downtown Albert Street was up in excitement when 19 year-old Said Pike, who was just convicted of firearm offences, fled court before the sitting magistrate could hand him his sentence.
It was major news back in November of 2010, when police recovered 2 loaded firearms from inside a pair of rubber boots that was in an apartment room at #56 Regent Street. The officers said that they discovered that the left boot which concealed a silver and black Sig Sauer 9mm pistol with 12 live rounds of ammunition, while the right foot concealed a black CZ 9mm pistol with 7 live rounds of ammunition.
As a result, the police arrested all persons who were present, and those who were associated with the room, which included, Pike, Marlon Budran, his common-law wife Bridget White, the recently-deceased Clifton Flores, and Kareem Heusner. They were all charged with 2 counts of keeping an unlicensed firearm and 2 counts of keeping unlicensed ammunition.
This firearm case started last year, where the arresting officers testified for the prosecution about the weapons bust.
White was able to beat the charges early in the trial because the court was satisfied that she had no knowledge of the weapons, and she wasn't present at the time of the search to verify what the officers found.
The trial finally concluded today, and based on the strength of the prosecution's case, Magistrate Roberto Ordonez found Pike, Budran, and Heusner guilty of all 4 offences.
As a result, he sentenced them all to serve 2 years for each gun, which will run consecutively, meaning that they will spend a total 4 years in prison.
But before Pike could be given his sentence, he ran out of the court, and police officers had to chase him through Brodies, down Albert Street, through the Wesley Primary School compound, down Regent Street, where officers finally caught him in the Human Resource Building.
He was arraigned before Magistrate Adolph Lucas for the charge of escaping from lawful custody, to which he pleaded guilty and begged for leniency, saying that he panicked when he heard the verdict.
Magistrate Lucas sentenced him to pay a fine of $1,000 by November 30, or he will serve 10 months in prison, which will run concurrently to his 4 years.
