Jason Johnson, 35, of 128 Savage Road, Apt. 2B, Milford

MILFORD – When a Wilton woman called her boyfriend while driving home one recent night to tell him a vehicle was following her, he thought she was joking.

But when she got home and pulled into the driveway, and a red Ford Taurus stopped in front of their house, she realized he was quite serious, according to police reports.

Things got even more serious moments later, when the driver of the Taurus, later identified as 35-year-old Jason Johnson, got out of his car allegedly brandishing a handgun, then cocked it and allegedly pointed it “directly at” the couple, the reports state.

Shaken but otherwise unhurt, the couple called Wilton police moments after Johnson returned to his car and drove off.

The woman told the officer who came to the house that the vehicle began following her near the Penguin Mart on Route 101 after the driver allegedly ran a red light, prompting the woman to slam on her brakes and honk the horn.

The driver got behind her allegedly flashing his headlights at her, and continued following her to her residence.

Meanwhile, after speaking with the woman at her residence, the Wilton officer called headquarters and had a be-on-the-lookout bulletin broadcast to area departments, and a short time later he heard Milford police radio that they located the Taurus – and Johnson – at his residence, 128 Savage Road, Apt. 2B, in Milford.

But when Johnson emerged from his vehicle, he was allegedly holding a pistol above his head, prompting officers to order him to stop, but he allegedly refused.

Instead, he allegedly took his two dogs, described as pit bulls, from the car and went into his apartment.

Police tried to talk Johnson out of the apartment and surrender, but he allegedly refused. When additional officers arrived, Johnson allegedly called 911 to get word to dispatchers that he “wanted the police to back away from his apartment,” according to the reports.

Reached by phone, Johnson allegedly “denied having threatened anyone in Wilton,” and claimed “he had been home sleeping all night,” police said.

Eventually, the reports state, Johnson began smashing his apartment windows while hollering at the officers. He allegedly began to throw “personal items” out onto the lawn.

As officers “continued to try to coax” him out of his apartment, Johnson at one point sent his two dogs out, which officers promptly placed into cruisers “for their safety.”

The reports state that while Johnson was speaking to the officers, “it became apparent that he was planning on lighting his apartment on fire … .”

At that point, police entered the apartment, led by a K-9 unit that Johnson allegedly punched and slammed the door on, police said.

He then allegedly “fought with multiple officers until they could subdue him.” Meanwhile, items on the stove were going up in flames, and police noticed “an apparently purposefully created gas leak.”

Officers got Johnson out, and began evacuating residents from the other apartments, police said, adding that firefighters responded and extingushed the fire.

Once he was placed inside a Milford cruiser, Johnson’s “mood swung wildly between docile and sleeping to shouting, threatening to kill officers’ families, and kicking the inside of the cruiser,” the reports state.

Both Wilton and Milford police filed charges against Johnson.

Wilton police charged him with two counts of felony criminal threatening for allegedly pointing a firearm at the Wilton couple.

Milford police charged Johnson with two counts of “maim to a police dog,” for allegedly punching the dog when it entered his apartment; one count each of arson and disorderly conduct, and two counts each of resisting arrest and criminal mischief.

Arraigned the following day in Superior Court, Johnson was ordered held on preventive detention pending his next court hearing, the date of which wasn’t immediately known.

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Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

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