THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, September 3, 1994            TAG: 9409030481
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                       LENGTH: Short :   49 lines

MISSING HIS CHECK, MAN THREATENS POSTAL CLERK SHE WAS RELEASED AFTER HE DRAGGED HER AROUND UNTIL THE CHECK WAS FOUND.

A man upset that he had not received his Social Security check jumped a counter and held a postal clerk at knife-point Friday morning in the downtown Newport News Federal Building.

The man released the clerk only after dragging her around the post office until a letter carrier was able to find the check. He was chased around the block by federal and local authorities who then subdued him.

Police said Thomas E. Acker, 47, of the 100 block of Lassiter Drive, Hampton, was taken into custody outside the post office in the 100 block of 25th St.

Acker urged the law enforcement officers to shoot him while he swung the knife at them, police said. He was taken into custody when the officers sprayed him with gas.

Acker will be charged under federal law, said Bill Roth, a spokesman for the Newport News Police Department. The exact charges had not been determined Friday afternoon, pending a psychological evaluation of Acker, Roth said.

Deborah Yackley, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service in Columbia, Md., said Acker entered the Newport News post office at 9:30 a.m. ``screaming and using bad language, demanding his . . . check.''

When the clerk at the counter turned her back to search for the check, Yackley said, Acker jumped over the counter, grabbed her and ``threatened her with the knife.''

Yackley said Acker pulled the clerk around the post office until a letter carrier found Acker's check. With his check in hand, Acker tried to leave the building, but was cornered by the marshals. Acker escaped, Yackley said, but was followed as he ran about two blocks away and then was chased by authorities back to the post office.

``He kept shouting at them to shoot him,'' Yackley said. ``He showed no fear even though they were all with guns.''

Yackley would not identify the clerk grabbed by Acker. She was not injured, but has a heart condition and was badly scared.

Yackley said Postal Service authorities dispatched counselors to Newport News to help employees cope with the experience. About six clerks were on duty at the time, she said.

KEYWORDS: ASSAULT U.S POSTAL SERVICE by CNB