The deputy sprayed his patrol vehicle with bullets after incorrectly believing that he had been shot, according to authorities in Florida. Body camera video released Monday shows a Florida sheriff’s deputy shooting at an unarmed suspect locked inside of a patrol vehicle after the officer was apparently startled by a falling acorn, authorities said. The footage shows the Okaloosa County deputy responding to a reported vehicle theft in the Fort Walton Beach area on Nov. 12 when he began firing, according to an internal investigation report released last week. “I’m hit! I’m hit!” the deputy, Jesse Hernandez, is heard yelling, despite suffering no gunshot injuries. Hernandez expended his ammunition while shooting at his patrol vehicle and taking cover. His partner, Sgt. Beth Roberts, reacted to his cries of “shots fired” by also shooting at the patrol vehicle containing suspect Marquis Jackson, according to the internal report. Jackson was found uninjured in Hernandez’s vehicle, and no weapon was located in his possession. The two officers were cleared of criminal wrongdoing following the internal investigation, though Hernandez was determined to have violated policy, authorities said. He resigned from the force in December amid the probe.
via huff: Video: Deputy Fires At Unarmed Suspect, Apparently Mistaking Acorn For Gunshot
siehe auch: Falling acorn spooks Florida deputy who fired into his own car, then resigned. An Okaloosa County Sheriff’s deputy has resigned after an investigation into exactly why he emptied his magazine into his own vehicle with a handcuffed suspect inside after mistaking a falling acorn as suppressed weapons fire. In the released video, Deputy Jesse Hernandez was walking toward the car where Marquis Jackson, 22, had been detained and handcuffed. Jackson had been driving around the neighborhood of his girlfriend, Celestiana Lopez, near Green Acres in Fort Walton Beach, for nearly six hours honking the horn. Lopez said he was refusing to return the vehicle and had threatened her by call and text.