‘I thought he had a bomb:’ Jacksonville man arrested on football field after trying to steal plane

JACKSONVILLE, fla. — A tackle on a local college football field this weekend had nothing to do with the game.

Daniel Kozlowski, 44, was arrested and charged with battery on law enforcement, disorderly conduct, grand theft, burglary and trespassing.

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He was arrested on the football field at Edward Waters University in the middle of this Saturday’s game, when he ran onto the field and was tackled by Duval County School Police and Jacksonville Sheriff’s officers and taken into custody.

EWU wide receiver, Johnny Jones, was on the field when this all happened. He said the players were quickly rushed off the field.

“I thought he had a bomb,” Johnny Jones said. “I didn’t know what he was gonna do. I thought he was gonna try and tackle one of the players on the field.”

While Kozlowski was arrested on the field, police said the crimes started three hours prior on the Southside.

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Officers were called out to Holladay Aviation at Jacksonville Executive at Craig Airport (JAXEX) in reference to an aircraft theft, according to a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office arrest report. An emergency warrant was issued for the suspect, but there’s no details on whether or not Kozlowski left the scene or if there was a damage to the plane in question.

A second arrest report said, three hours later, Kozlowski walked through an unauthorized gate to the Edward Waters University football field. A security guard attempted to stop him, according to police, and the suspect got into a combative stance, punching the guard.

In looking into Kozlowski’s background, we found that he was arrested in November of last year for criminal mischief. He pleaded guilty An arrest report from JSO stated the suspect destroyed the male bathroom at a Cantina Louie. It said the sink was ripped from the wall and smashed into several pieces. The mirror was also taken off the wall and smashed.

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Kozlowski is being held in Duval County jail on a $330,015 bond. As of Wednesday evening, he is still in jail.

We reached out to Holladay Aviation for more details, but we were told they could not comment.

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