Tea party leader flees CBS cameras after handgun arrest

The co-founder of Tea Party Patriots was captured on video jumping a fence and fleeing into Queens' "Boulevard of Death" after he was arraigned for illegally possessing a handgun at New York's LaGuardia Airport.

Mark Meckler was charged Thursday with criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, a Class C felony, for traveling with his Glock handgun and 19 cartridges without a New York permit.

Although Meckler seems to relish this spotlight while speaking on Fox News or at tea party events, he wasn't eager to speak to the CBS News affiliate in New York when their cameras caught up with him leaving the courthouse.

With several photographers in pursuit, Meckler ran into Queens Boulevard -- which came to be known as "The Boulevard of Death" after 72 people died trying to cross the street between 1992 and 2000.

The tea party spokesman faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the gun charge.

Watch this video from CBS New York, broadcast Dec. 16, 2011.