Two city police officers were assaulted after tussling with an armed suspect early Tuesday in Magazine Park, according to Springfield police.
SPRINGFIELD -- Two city police officers were assaulted after tussling with an armed suspect early Tuesday in Magazine Park, according to a ranking Springfield police officer.
"He assaulted two of my officers, one of (whom) was sent to the hospital," Lt. John Slepchuk said of 29-year-old Jaame Salaam, who was taken into custody around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday for illegally carrying a handgun.
Officers patrolling crime hot spots noticed "suspicious activity" inside Magazine Park, where Salaam and four other men were smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol, said Slepchuk, noting that city parks are closed after dark.
Patrols have been beefed up in the McKnight neighborhood -- the park is located in the southwest corner of the neighborhood -- and other sections of the city "because of recent drug activity and shootings," Slepchuk said. And Lincoln Street, which borders Magazine Park, was the scene of a July 3 homicide, the first of three this month.
Officers, approaching from the Lincoln Street side of the park, performed routine pat-frisks because the men were in violation of various city ordinances, Slepchuk said. During the frisk of Salaam, Slepchuk said, an officer found that he was carrying a handgun.
The make and caliber of the weapon were unavailable.
Slepchuk said Salaam started fighting with the officers, injuring one, as they attempted to take him into custody.
"We think he broke his hand," Slepchuk said, referring to the injured officer.
Salaam, of 21 Wellington St., will be arraigned Tuesday in Springfield District Court on single counts of carrying a gun without a license, possession of ammunition without a license and resisting arrest, and double counts of threatening to commit a crime and assault and battery on a police officer.
The other men, none of whose names were immediately available, face various charges of violating city ordinances.
"It was a very good arrest," Slepchuk said.