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Falling acorn spooks Florida deputy who fired into his own car, then resigned: See video

​​​​​​​View Date:2024-12-23 18:46:55

An Florida deputy has resigned after an investigation into exactly why he emptied his clip into his own vehicle with a handcuffed suspect inside after mistaking a falling acorn as suppressed weapons fire.

In the released video, Okaloosa County Sheriff's 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.

She also showed deputies a picture from inside the car that appeared to show a firearm suppressor.

No suppressor was found on Jackson but one of the deputies already on the scene, Sgt. Beth Roberts, told Hernandez about the picture when he arrived. Hernandez told the other deputies to detain Jackson and he was put into Hernandez's vehicle.

Why did a Florida deputy fire on his own car?

In the released video, Hernandez can be seen approaching his car when an acorn falls and strikes the top of it.

Hernandez, who has a military background, immediately dropped to the ground, yelling "Shots fired!" again and again before rolling up and firing at the rear of the car. At one point he fell to the ground while firing, yelling he had been hit, and continued to shoot.

Roberts responded and began firing at the car herself from the side. In her own bodycam video, Roberts can be seen rushing to his aid and firing into the car herself before calling in "shots fired, officer down." Hernandez can be seen crawling away.

Was the suspect in the deputy's vehicle hurt?

Somehow Jackson was uninjured in the crossfire, despite Hernandez emptying his clip into the back of the car and Roberts shooting from the side.

Was the deputy who shot at an acorn fired?

Hernandez resigned on Dec. 4 following the investigation. The final results of the investigation found that his use of deadly force against Jackson was "not objectively reasonable."

Roberts was exonerated of any wrongdoing.

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