The duo thought they were pulling a fast one on cops, but a camera inside the van recorded everything. NBC New York’s Pei-Sze Cheng reports.
A Long Island cable repairman allegedly helped an armed suspect hide in his company van from police officers looking for him. But that choice is also what led to both men getting arrested — because the work van had a camera inside that recorded their entire conversation.
The dramatic getaway from Suffolk County police was captured on camera on June 22. Officers conducting surveillance during an unrelated shooting investigation approached the suspect, Borndivine Jackson, in the parking lot of a deli in Shirley. The 26-year-old Jackson took off running.
"While running from police, he ran through a wooded area and discarded a gun before exiting the other side of the woods and entering a residential area," said Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney.
In that neighborhood is where Jackson ran into Danyel Anderson, an acquaintance, who was driving an Optimum Cable van. Anderson told him to get in the back of the van, and the pair continue to talk very candidly — seemingly unaware they were being recorded. As the mounted camera filmed, Jackson explained that police were looking for him after they saw his gun.
"The only reason they got out [of their vehicle] is because they saw me put my grip on my waist," he can be heard saying from the back of the van as Anderson drove. "[I was] about to go in the store, so I guess they thought I was about to rob that s--t or something."
Jackson then made a phone call, and asked the other person on the line to find the gun before police would be able to. He described the look of the gun and the location where he got rid of it.
"It was a ghost gun. I wasn't supposed to have that," he tells the other person on the phone.
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Anderson drove Jackson to Mastic, where he got out and thanked him. The cable repairman then called a friend and told him about what just happened.
"I'm like, at first, I didn't know who it was. I'm like, oh I'm just try to help this [censored] out, wherever he needed to o because like I'm, I ain't got no work right now. I got to wait until 2," he says on the phone.
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Jackson was later arrested and faces weapons charges.
Anderson faces charges for helping Jackson. His father and girlfriend were in court to support him, and his lawyer said Anderson has been a Marine in the reserves for the past two years.
"He has no prior convictions and at this time he maintains his innocence," said attorney Natasha Bellinger.
Jackson's bail was set a $1 million cash. He faces a minimum of 5-15 years in prison.
The district attorney said Anderson was fired from his job at Optimum and was given supervised release. If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison.
