Suspect leaps from balcony, runs as cops close in
Thu Mar 20, 2008

WHITBY -- A suspect in a drug investigation lost his shoes and gun in a desperate dash from cops in Whitby, leaping from a third-floor balcony and running off through the snow in bare feet.

A handgun and a huge haul of dope were seized during the operation, Durham police said.

Drug Enforcement Unit officers targeting street-level dealers were preparing to execute a search warrant on an apartment on Kathleen Street in the Thickson Road-King Street West area around 10 p.m. last Friday when a suspect apparently caught onto the presence of cops, Durham police said. He ran through his third-floor apartment and leapt off the balcony, landing in the snow below and leaving his flip-flops behind.

Cops, joined by the police helicopter and the canine unit, searched the area and eventually surrounded the suspect, who was found hiding under a pine tree. He was sent to hospital for an examination before being taken into police custody.

Several other people in the vicinity were scooped up in the bust and police seized almost two kilograms of cocaine, as well as ammunition and cash from the apartment. A search of the area through which the suspect fled yielded a .45-calibre handgun, police said.

Lamont Harris, 31, of Kathleen Street in Whitby, is charged with trafficking cocaine, possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession of proceeds of crime.