Enraged champion fires gun, arrested

Jermain Taylor, 36.
Jermain Taylor, 36.

Little Rock police arrested boxing champion Jermain Taylor on Monday after he allegedly threatened a family of five at gunpoint after attending the city's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade.

It was Taylor's second arrest involving a gun in the past six months, and his third encounter with law enforcement in that time.

Officers pulled over Taylor, 36, along the parade route at M.L.K. Drive and Wright Avenue about 2:15 p.m after responding to a shots-fired call in the area. Taylor had been drinking and told police he had a gun in his pocket, according to a police incident report. He also had a small baggie of marijuana, the report states.

Investigators spoke to Thelton and Toya Smith, who said Taylor had shot at them and threatened their three kids during a confrontation shortly after the parade ended.

Taylor was charged with five counts of aggravated assault, three counts of endangering the welfare of a minor and possession of marijuana.

Taylor, who regained the International Boxing Federation Middleweight Championship when he beat Sam Soliman by unanimous decision in October, had purportedly brought his championship belt to the parade and been taking pictures with the Smiths and others before he became violent toward the family. Toya Smith told the Democrat-Gazette that her 5-year-old son dropped the belt and Taylor, citing the belt's $100,000 value, flew into a rage. Smith said Taylor appeared intoxicated.

"He pulled out a gun. He ran up on my husband ... He said, 'I'm going to kill you.' He put the gun on my husband's temple and he said, 'Oh, you think I'm playing.' Then he shot up twice in the air and then he put it back to my husband's head," she said.

Toya Smith, 40, said Taylor fired another shot in the air. She said the bullet grazed her husband's ear, leaving Thelton Smith on the ground and begging Taylor not to shoot him.

Police reported no injuries in the incident, but Toya Smith said late Monday that she was taking her husband to a hospital because he couldn't hear in one ear.

The police incident report said Taylor complained of rib pain from "a previous injury" and was transported to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to be evaluated, after which he was transported to the Pulaski County jail.

That injury appears to be what led to last Friday's decision to cancel his first title defense since regaining the IBF belt in October. Pat Burns, Taylor's longtime trainer, told the Democrat-Gazette on Monday that the Feb. 6 scheduled fight against Sergia Mora was canceled Friday when Taylor suffered a fractured rib while training in Little Rock. Burns said Taylor needs to sit out six weeks before he begins training again.

Toya Smith said Taylor pointed the gun at her three kids -- ages 5, 3 and 1 -- and threatened to kill them before he drove away.

"He said, 'I don't give a f about those kids. F you and those kids.' I've never encountered anything like this. That man is out of his mind," she said. "For him to put the gun on my babies ..."

Police reported recovering three .38-caliber bullet casings from the scene.

Toya Smith said she and her husband plan to pursue further legal action against Taylor, who threatened the family in front of two of his own children, ages 15 and 5.

Taylor's girlfriend, 22-year-old Skylar Harris, said the incident "got out of hand."

"There was this argument about something. I really wasn't listening to it, I was just picking the belt up and putting them in the truck so we could leave. And him and some guy were having an argument and it turned into something terrible, terrible," she said.

Harris described Taylor as "cool and laid back," and said she had never seen him behave the way he did Monday.

"He just snapped," she said. "That's not the Jermain I know. That kind of surprised me. It really surprised me."

Burns said he arrived in Little Rock in early January to start training Taylor for his title defense at Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Miss., where he beat Soliman in October. A judge allowed Taylor to travel to Florida to train with Burns in October, but Taylor opted to begin training for this fight in Little Rock earlier this month.

"Jermain has a lot of personal things going on in his life and that's why he chose to stay," Burns said. "However, he was amazing. We were doing three-a-days and everything was great. We had the structure, he was happy, he was ready to go."

One parade watcher, Charlotte Marie Webb, uploaded a video to Faceback showing Taylor dancing to music and waving as cars and floats drove by. The video shows the boxer in a burgundy jacket and khakis with a red cup in his hand.

"He was just drunk having a good time," Webb wrote, referring to Taylor's behavior before his arrest, after posting the video.

Other witnesses posted photos of Taylor on Twitter after he was stopped by police. One photo shows Taylor waving one hand with a cigarillo in the opposite hand. Another shows a handcuffed Taylor being escorted by an officer.

Taylor was being held on $27,000 bond late Monday, according to a police report. He was scheduled to appear in Little Rock District Court on Jan. 27.

Calls to Hubert Alexander and Allison Allred, Taylor's attorneys, were not returned. Taylor's legal team has not commented on his previous legal woes.

Last August, the Pulaski County sheriff's office arrested Taylor on charges of aggravated assault and first-degree battery. Taylor is accused of shooting his 41-year-old cousin, Tyrone DaWayne Hinton, and threatening another man during a dispute at his home in North Little Rock.

Taylor pleaded innocent in the case, in which he faces 26 years in prison. Circuit Judge Leon Johnson set a jury trial for June 23-24. A pre-trial hearing was set for May 29.

The sheriff's office returned to Taylor's home the day after Christmas. Roxanne Sarah Walker, an acquaintance of the boxer, told deputies that he threw a brick through her vehicle's window, cutting her. Taylor said he threw a brick at Walker's vehicle because she drove toward him, according to the sheriff's office.

No charges were filed in that incident.

Sports on 01/20/2015

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