Mayor a witness to arrest
Fugitive task force takes British national into custody on drug warrant near Albany ribbon-cutting

By CAROL DeMARE, Staff writer
First published: Thursday, July 17, 2008

ALBANY -- A British citizen who has lived in Albany for much of his life and has racked up convictions for assaulting police officers was nabbed as a fugitive Wednesday -- an arrest witnessed by Mayor Jerry Jennings.

Gary McDonald, 42, was walking along North Pearl Street close to Maiden Lane at about 10 a.m., unaware he had been spotted by a member of the fugitive task force, who called for backup, Deputy U.S. Marshal Neil Sullivan said.

"We had a bunch of people, fortunately, who were in the area, and he was taken into custody without incident," Sullivan said.

As officers handcuffed McDonald, a crowd watched, including the mayor, who was nearby at a ribbon-cutting at Legacy Bank at 39 N. Pearl St., according to a spokeswoman in Jennings' office.

McDonald was being sought on a felony drug sale charge by city police. "He has a long criminal history, which includes numerous serious felony assaults on law enforcement officers," Sullivan said.

In 1996, McDonald assaulted a uniformed Albany officer and was a fugitive until his arrest in 2002 by a task force in Miami. After serving prison time in New York, McDonald was deported to England in 2004.

Sometime between then and early 2008, he got back into the country. "We don't know when he came in. It could have been anytime from the time he was deported in 2004 until a couple of months ago," Sullivan said. "(Or) he could have been here for four years, living under the radar.

"He's been selling narcotics, and that's what the warrant was for," Sullivan said.

McDonald never became a citizen. He has family and friends and at least one child living in Albany, the deputy marshal said.

He faces further charges from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Sullivan said. Felony convictions expose people who are not citizens to deportation, he said.

Before the 1996 assault, McDonald was sentenced to 2 to 4 years in prison as a second felony offender in 1991 for his guilty plea to second-degree assault.

He admitted throwing a chair at State Police Investigator John Caulfield, breaking the officer's rib. The incident occurred at Altamont House, a substance abuse treatment facility, where the investigator tried to serve an arrest warrant from Nassau County.

McDonald then ran into woods, and Trooper William Khachadourian and his Rottweiler chased him down a steep embankment. Khachadourian suffered a fractured wrist and lower back injury.
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