Cop resigns after mistaking falling acorn for gunshot, firing at unarmed suspect cuffed in patrol car
A Florida cop resigned after opening fire on an unarmed black man who was handcuffed in his patrol car — because he confused the sound of an acorn hitting the vehicle with a muffled gunshot.
Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Deputy Jesse Hernandez handed in his badge in December following the Nov. 12 Fort Walton Beach incident, officials said Friday.
Sgt. Beth Roberts, who also opened fire, was exonerated in an internal investigation and remained on the job, according to police.
The suspect, Marquis Jackson, was luckily uninjured, but the “situation was traumatic” for him, police acknowledged.
The police-involved shooting was captured on Hernandez’s bodycam footage and released by the department.
The deputies had responded to a complaint from Jackson’s girlfriend, who alleged that the man had committed grand theft auto, threatened her and was in possession of multiple firearms and a silencer, according to police.
Jackson was then “detained, searched, handcuffed” and placed in the back of Hernandez’s car while deputies searched for the woman’s stolen car.
When Hernandez approached the right rear door to search the suspect again, he apparently mistook the sound of an acorn hitting the car for a gunshot and quickly reacted with potentially deadly force.
“Shots fired! Shots fired! Shots fired! Shots fired!” Hernandez exclaimed as he rolled on the ground to get behind the car before unleashing a barrage of shots at the back of his patrol vehicle.
“I’m hit! I’m hit!” he falsely stated as he lay on the ground and continued shooting, according to the footage.
Roberts then also “responded with gunshots towards the car as well in response to the perceived threat,” police said.
Investigators concluded that Hernandez was culpable for a “policy violation regarding excessive use of control to resistance,” but that Roberts’ “use of deadly force was objectively reasonable.”
No criminal charges were filed against either officer.
“We are very thankful Mr. Jackson wasn’t injured and we have no reason to think former Deputy Hernandez acted with any malice,” officials said.
“Though his actions were ultimately not warranted, we do believe he felt his life was in immediate peril and his response was based off the totality of circumstances surrounding this fear.”
