A Devonshire man accused of possessing a semi-automatic pistol in Hamilton drove a motorcycle at a Police officer, a court heard yesterday.

Det. Con. Christopher Sabean told a Supreme Court firearms trial that Jason Devon Dill drove into his right leg after he was pulled over on Dundonald Street.

Det. Con. Sabean said that he had seen an object in the defendant?s left hand.

He denied a suggestion from defence lawyer Charles Richardson that the firearm later recovered near the bike had been dropped by the defendant?s pillion passenger.

Mr. Richardson also said the detective had been mistaken when he said he saw a dark object in the defendant?s left hand. The detective, who said he could see Dill?s left hand when he was on the bike, replied: ?I disagree.?

Det. Con. Sabean said he went to the front of the bike and said ?stop?, but the rider tried to veer around him, before heading straight at him. There was then a struggle, the court heard, and the defendant was arrested.

Mr. Richardson said that since the passenger had run away after the struggle, Police had to blame the defendant for possessing the gun ? ?because there was no one else there?.

The detective said that was a ?complete lie?. He later said he could not say whether the defendant had dropped a firearm.

Dill,a Devonshire Cougars football player, of Frog Lane, is accused of possessing a Talon 9mm semi-automatic pistol without a licence on April 22 last year. He is also charged with carrying six live rounds of ammunition without a licence, serious assault against Det. Con. Sabean and violently resisting arrest.

The 21-year-old denies all four charges.

Another prosecution witness, Insp. Nicholas Pedro ? who was on patrol at the time of the incident ? said he got information from two detectives that they were chasing a motorcycle at 3.20 a.m. last April.

He told Crown counsel Cindy Clarke he turned onto Dundonald Street, Hamilton, and saw their unmarked CID car alongside a motorcycle carrying two people. The bike was on the sidewalk outside the Zig Zag Too clothes store.

He said Det. Con. Sabean was shouting at the pair on the bike to stop the engine before he walked towards the bike.

Insp. Pedro told the court the defendant accelerated the engine and rode the bike at the detective.

The witness said the detective, helped by a colleague, then tackled the people on the bike to the ground. However, the passenger fled down a nearby alley.

At the back of Zig Zag, Insp. Pedro said he found the helmet the pillion had been wearing on the ground.

Insp. Pedro then told the jury he went back to the bike and he said that as the detectives lifted the defendant from the ground, a 9mm firearm with a stainless steel magazine at the front was found underneath the defendant.

Under cross-examination from Mr. Richardson, Insp. Pedro accepted the light at the scene of the incident was poor.

Mr. Richardson asked if the firearm could have been found where the pillion passenger fell, but Insp. Pedro said he did not see where the passenger landed.

The jury also heard no fingerprints were found on the gun, its magazine or the bullets that were recovered from the scene.

The pistol was passed to the jury to examine during yesterday?s trial.

The trial, before Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves, is due to continue today.