Florida cop empties his gun, runs for cover after acorn falls on car

https://jalopnik.com/florida-cop-empties-his-gun-runs-for-cover-after-acorn-1851255383

by alphabettsy • 2 years ago

35 21 2 years ago

neaden2• 2 years ago

The comments in the article reference the officer is a veteran of Afghanistan and might have PTSD. While that would make me more sympathetic to him in terms of should he be charged with a crime, this sort of thing clearly shows he should not be allowed to possess a firearm, let alone serve as a police officer ever again.

bemusedthrow752• 2 years ago

This sort of thing clearly shows every single thing that is wrong about US gun culture, and its impacts on law enforcement.

There was absolutely no attempt to de-escalate things with the oak tree.

I mean it wasn't even a gun nut. It was just a nut.

kelipso• 2 years ago

US police are literally trained to be constantly paranoid and on edge, and don't get trained to deescalate, that's the main issue I think.

pavel_lishin2• 2 years ago

Well, good news on one front, at least:

During the course of the investigation into the shooting, deputy Herandez resigned from the force.

But it's still quite concerning that he ever had a gun and a badge to begin with.

Also, they never mention whether Mr. Jackson - handcuffed in the back of the car - was hit or not. Here's hoping he's alright.

neaden2• 2 years ago

Unfortunately many times when this sort of thing happens the officer is able to find another job at a different police department. Especially since he quit and was not fired.

According to this article: https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5yneb/man-shot-at-by-cops-w... Jackson was not injured but has been suffering mental effects. We also see there that the Sheriff is defending Herandez saying that while his actions weren't justified "we do believe he felt his life was in immediate peril and his response was based off the totality of circumstances surrounding this fear."

fallinghawks• 2 years ago

The number of (incorrect) assumptions the officer made is pretty astounding. No attempt to identify the source of gunfire -- it must be coming from the handcuffed suspect.

I also find it fascinating how he felt tingling on one side and fell as if he had been shot. It makes me think of the several instances of police who have experienced, to the point of hospitalization, symptoms from fentanyl "exposure," which is not actually a thing.

houseatrielah• 2 years ago

Jackson wrote in a lengthy Facebook post that the incident left him “damaged for life,” despite him miraculously not being struck by the officers’ gunfire.

He said he was “scared to death,” and that he leaned over and played dead “to prevent getting shot in the head.”

“Mentally, I’m not OK,” he said. “I haven’t been the same since and I don’t think this feeling I have will ever change.”

Once the officers stopped firing, Jackson said they forced him to show his hands, but he couldn’t raise them as ordered because he was still in handcuffs on allegations he’d stolen his girlfriend’s car. While doing this, he said he was staring down the barrel of an officer’s gun, so he closed his eyes and prayed he’d survive the ordeal.

“I eventually found a way to rest my cuffed hands on the shattered window area to show that I wasn’t armed. A few minutes later they swarmed the car and slammed me on the ground to search me,” he said. “The image I can’t get out of my head is seeing how bad my mom was hurt/crying right before I got into the ambulance.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/bizarre-footage-shows-florida-...

Sohcahtoa82• 2 years ago

The scary thing about that is how so many people think we should staff our schools with veterans as security guards.

Imagine one popping off because a kid popped the plastic bag his lunch was in.

DerekL• 2 years ago

From the sheriff department's report:

Deputy Hernandez said he had two combat rotations to Afghanistan, but noted as an officer, he was not in direct combat.

Though maybe something else happened to him in the service.

aaronmdjones• 2 years ago

https://www.sheriff-okaloosa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/...

alphabettsy2• 2 years ago

The first officer, who resigned, was determined to have used excessive force and the other who started firing because the other officer was “under assault” was determined to have responded reasonably. Crazy.

bryanlarsen2• 2 years ago

Hernandez was firing his gun and yelling "I'm hit". What would a reasonable cop have done in Roberts' situation?

sema4hacker• 2 years ago

An extremely detailed 44-page report describing the incident and the people involved. After reading it, I would agree with the final assessment: Deputy Jesse Hernandez's use of deadly force against Mr. Jackson was not objectively reasonable (Excessive Use of Control to Resistance is SUSTAINED), and Sergeant Beth Roberts' use of deadly force against Mr. Jackson was objectively reasonable (Excessive Use of Control to Resistance is EXONERATED).

pavel_lishin2• 2 years ago

Note that he didn't just get scared of an acorn - there was a suspect in the backseat of his car, who had been searched and handcuffed, and the cop in question thought the man had somehow opened fire on him.

h2odragon• 2 years ago

Believing that Hernandez was under fire from Jackson, sergeant Beth Roberts then also fired her weapon.

"training failure" is what the report will say; but really it deserves a lot more words than that.

anon-sre-srm• 2 years ago

War tends to attenuate people's fight or flight response to either diminish it somewhat or make it overreactive.

natehiggers666• 2 years ago

LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Florida cop empties his gun, runs for cover after acorn falls on car

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