by Guy Page
A Burlington man has been cited to appear in court after an early-morning attempt to strike a police officer in the head with a meat cleaver – and then knife him in the stomach.
Both attempts were unsuccessful. BPD today provided the following information today, January 14:
At 5:35 this morning, an off-duty sergeant with the Burlington Police Department arrived for work at One North Avenue. The sergeant was in plain clothes, as he had not started working yet, when he entered the Uniform Services Bureau lobby of the BPD.
When the sergeant entered the lobby, he observed a male standing in the lobby and recognized that male from prior police interactions. The male was identified as Eric Jones, 34, of Burlington. Without comment, and with a demeanor described by the sergeant as “affectless”, Jones held up a meat cleaver and pointed it towards the sergeant and raised it over his head. A struggle ensued, and the sergeant was able to remove the meat cleaver from Jones’s hand.
As the struggle continued, however, Jones removed a second weapon, a kitchen knife, from his coat pocket and directed it towards the officer in an attempt to stab the officer in the stomach. The sergeant was able to wrest the second knife from Jones, as well. He threw both weapons outside the lobby, into the parking lot, as he continued to struggle with Jones. Ultimately, he was able to separate from Jones, leave the lobby with Jones trapped inside, and call for assistance. Uniformed, on-duty BPD officers arrived on scene and took Jones into custody.
A check of Jones’s criminal history shows the following: 2 misdemeanor charges, 1 assaultive charge, and 1 assault on officer charge. Jones was flash cited to appear in court for aggravated assault.
The off-duty sergeant was physically unharmed. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the Burlington Police Department at (802) 658-2704.
