New Jack, free man

AudioSavior

POSTED: 7:37 am EST November 4, 2004
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Prosecutors dropped an aggravated battery charge against a professional wrestler accused of stabbing his opponent 14 times with a prop during a match.

Jerome Young, 41, of Smyrna, Ga., was arrested last month after a Shocktober 2004 match here against William Jason Lane, of Fruit Cove.

Young, who goes by the name "New Jack" in the ring, was held in the Duval County Jail until Tuesday, when state prosecutors dpopped the charge before a scheduled arraignment.

Both wrestlers in the local Thunder Wrestling Federation event told police the prop was brought in as part of what is known as "hard-core" wrestling, which uses such props as knives, chains, bats and barbed wire. An event promoter said the match was not supposed to be hard-core.

Lane was treated at Shands Jacksonville hospital and released.

Young told police he and Lane planned before the match to use a piece of metal to inflict some injury.

"When it was time, I asked if he was ready," he said Wednesday. "He told me to cut him, so I cut him. We agreed with that, so where's the crime?"

Local6.com