Boxer Jermain Taylor charged in discharge of weapon

FILE - Boxer Jermain Taylor leaves circuit court in Little Rock on Monday, Dec. 8, 2014.
FILE - Boxer Jermain Taylor leaves circuit court in Little Rock on Monday, Dec. 8, 2014.

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Pulaski County Sheriff's office

Jermain Taylor, 36.

Boxer Jermain Taylor has been charged with five counts of aggravated assault after police say he discharged a firearm in Little Rock on Monday afternoon.

The boxer has also been charged with three counts of endangering the welfare of a minor and possession of marijuana, Little Rock Police Department spokesman Lt. Sidney Allen said in an email.

Taylor discharged a firearm about 2:15 p.m. near Wright Avenue and Wolfe Street, Allen said.

Officers made contact with Thelton Smith, 41, who told police that Taylor shot at him and pointed a gun at his wife and kids, according to a Little Rock Police Department report.

Taylor was taken into custody and told officers that he had a gun in his pocket, the report states. Officers found a small bag of marijuana in Taylor's front pocket before he was transported to the downtown detective division of the police department, police said.

Skylar Harris, 22, and two children were in a vehicle with Taylor and were questioned following the incident, according to the report.

Taylor was taken to UAMS Medical Center after he told officials that he had pain in his ribs from a previous injury, the report states. After he was released from the hospital, he was transported to the Pulaski County jail, police said.

Taylor is being held in lieu of $27,000 bond and is in custoday at the Pulaski County jail as of 8:30 p.m. Monday, Pulaski County sheriff's office spokesman Capt. Carl Minden said in an email.

Witness Shirley Johnson of Little Rock was at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Wright Avenue when she said she heard about five gunshots in the distance.

Police stopped Taylor at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Wright Avenue, according to Allen, and Johnson said she "saw everything."

Johnson said police removed a gun from the boxer's vehicle, and Taylor then stepped out of the vehicle, where he was handcuffed.

Johnson said she saw a woman and two children in the back seat of the vehicle, and said she heard the children crying for Taylor.

"Then Jermain [Taylor] looked over at us and said 'They got me again,'" Johnson said.

Taylor pleaded innocent in December to charges stemming from an August shooting that injured his cousin at his Pulaski County home.

Police responded to Taylor's residence Dec. 24 after receiving a 911 call stating that Taylor threw a brick through an acquaintance's car window.

Taylor told police he was defending himself and no arrests were made.

Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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