Avast ye, Macy’s!
A rabble-rousing kickball player for a recreational team called the Pirates was busted yesterday for brandishing a swashbuckler’s sword in the middle of Macy’s Herald Square, cops said.
Bonehead buccaneer Lawrence Jackson, 29, was charged with criminal possession of a weapon after he was spotted with the sword on an up escalator.
Jackson and his girlfriend said he was carrying the sword for fun on the way to a game and that it was nothing more than a prop befitting his team’s zany image – but cops said his explanation didn’t cut it.
“He didn’t think there was anything wrong with it,” said Police Officer Richard Perrone, who responded after frightened shoppers called security. “He thought it was a toy. But it’s not a toy. It’s sharp.”
Which was more than Perrone could say about the suspect.
Jackson also was busted for possession of marijuana. In addition, cops said, Jackson had another outstanding pot warrant.
Jackson also was carrying a Super Soaker water gun, although police did not consider it a dangerous weapon.
When cops approached the kickball kook shortly after 4 p.m., he dropped his sword, which made a loud clanking sound when it hit the floor.
“It’s a prop,” said Jackson’s girlfriend, Theresa. “It’s metal, but it’s a fake sword. It’s not like he was going to hurt anyone.”
Theresa, who is eight months pregnant with their child, said team members often dress up in crazy costumes before their Sunday games, although she did warn him about the sword.
“I told him to check the sword with security, but he went in with it anyway,” she said.
Cops said Jackson was not threatening anyone with the sword.
Theresa, who declined to give her last name, said the two were surprised when police showed up because they traveled on the subway with the sword with no problems.
She said they stopped briefly in Macy’s to shop for eyeglasses and were on their way to his weekly kickball game in Brooklyn’s McCarren Park, near their Greenpoint home.
Jackson plays for a team called Los Piratas Mechanicos – the Robot Pirates – who occasionally wear drawn-on mustaches.
The Pirates were scheduled to play a team called La Resistance.
Other teams in the 33-team league include the MakeOuts, the John Cougar Mellencamps and the Government Kickbacks.
“He brought it out for us,” said teammate Rick Iturralde, 27. “He wasn’t going to hurt anyone. It was all for entertainment purposes.”
Co-captain Hector Castillo said the sword was just a dumb joke.
“It sounds like a dumb idea,” Castillo said. “But we’re all family here. We were planning a baby shower for his kid. We were going to deck it out with pirate flags.”
Additional reporting by Jamie Schram and Peter Cox