Man with gun flees Reading police, hops fences while carrying toddler

READING, Pa. -

A Reading man is behind bars on numerous charges, despite his best efforts to outrun police, all while carrying a gun and a small child.

The series of events that led up to the foot chase began Wednesday morning with the suspect, Keith Johnson, and a woman fighting over feeding their children inside an apartment in the 200 block of West Windsor Street, police said.

The woman told police that Johnson punched her in the face and threw her around the apartment before he grabbed some belongings and left with his three-year-old son, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

Officers responding to the couple's dispute spotted Johnson dropping some belongings as he fled with the child in the 200 block of Jameson Place. They gave chase, with Johnson putting the child over fences as he continued his getaway, police said.

Johnson eventually put the boy down and continued to flee before being apprehended by pursuing officers in the 300 block of West Windsor, according to court documents.

Police then checked the items they said Johnson discarded during the chase and found a .40 caliber revolver tucked inside a sneaker, ammunition, 25 plastic bags of crack cocaine, two plastic bags of marijuana and five tablets of oxycodone, according to court documents. Police said Johnson was also carrying $481 in cash.

Johnson, 24, was charged with simple assault, harassment, firearms not to be carried without a license, manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver, and recklessly endangering another person. He was committed to the Berks County Jail on $25,000 bail.

Johnson's son suffered a cut on one of his feet from being put over the fences during his father's attempt to flee from police, according to court documents.

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Man with gun flees Reading police, hops fences while carrying toddler