Naked man charged with attack

There’s being caught with your pants down, and then there’s being caught with no pants. Or shirt. Or nary a stitch of clothing.

Eugene police Tasered, and then arrested, a 29-year-old Eugene man, Brandon Lee Jackson, after he allegedly harassed a teenage girl and her brother, then attacked and sexually assaulted their mother, at the Dutch Bros. Coffee drive-through at Franklin Boulevard and Walnut Street on Sunday evening.

Police received a 911 call about 8 p.m. about a “disorderly naked guy” who appeared at the coffee stand, Eugene police Lt. Tom Eichhorn said. Then another call came in, saying the man was attacking someone at the scene, Eichhorn said.

“We had several calls coming in at once,” he said.

The teenagers were waiting at the coffee stand for their mother to pick them up when Jackson approached and harassed the girl, Eichhorn said.

Jackson also made obscene comments to several people at the scene, according to police.

When their mother arrived, the teens jumped into her car, but Jackson was able to open the driver’s side back door, reached in and started attacking her, Eichhorn said. Her son fought back, “gouging this guy’s eyes with his thumbs,” Eichhorn said. All three were able to then get out of the car with Jackson still inside, Eichhorn said.

Thanks to the help of at least two bystanders, the 35-year-old woman and her children were able to keep the man trapped in the car by holding all four doors shut until police arrived, Eichhorn said. One of the bystanders even used pepper spray on Jackson, though it had no noticeable effect, he said.

At one point, Jackson claimed “he was the sheriff,” Eichhorn said.

When police tried to get him out of the car, he slipped through their hands, “sweaty and naked,” Eichhorn said, and ran toward the nearby intersection. Sgt. Terry Fitzpatrick then fired a Taser gun at Jackson and he went down.

Fitzpatrick said he aimed at Jackson’s back from 10 or 15 feet away as he tried to run away, and the two probes of his Taser stun gun struck Jackson’s right arm and leg.

Asked if it was the first time he ever fired a Taser at someone without any clothing on, Fitzpatrick said: “Uh, yes.”

Fitzpatrick said officers are trained to fire Tasers at a suspect’s large muscle groups, such as the chest, stomach or back. “There are certain areas you want to avoid, obviously,” he said. “You don’t want to aim for the face or the groin.”

Jackson was charged with first-degree sexual abuse, unauthorized use of a vehicle, physical harassment, disorderly conduct, public indecency, resisting arrest, third-degree escape and unlawful entry into a motor vehicle. He was lodged in the Lane County Jail and arraigned Monday in Lane County Circuit Court.

Police said Jackson probably was high on drugs, such as PCP, LSD or other hallucinogenics.

Eichhorn said people under the influence of such drugs have been known to shed their clothing because their bodies overheat. He credited the quick thinking of the woman and the bystanders for keeping a dangerous situation from becoming worse.

“It’s pretty amazing, the teamwork,” Eichhorn said. “The way people all acted together.”

Police never encourage citizens to get involved in such altercations, for obvious reasons, he said. “But these people did some wonderful work.”

If Jackson had been able to get the woman’s keys and drive away, that obviously would have been a bad situation, he said.

“We didn’t want him driving,” Eichhorn said. “We could have had a very dangerous situation on our hands.”