Cop Startled by Falling Acorn Opens Fire on Unarmed Man

A Florida sheriff's deputy was approaching a patrol vehicle, parked on a street under a large tree, when acorns fell, apparently hitting both him and the vehicle. What happened next led the deputy to quit as his department was embroiled in an embarrassing investigation. Believing he'd been shot in the torso, Okaloosa County Sheriff's Deputy Jesse Hernandez dropped to the ground Nov. 12 in Fort Walton Beach before unloading bullets into the back of the patrol vehicle, inside of which sat an unarmed man in handcuffs, per the Washington Post. Hernandez and Sgt. Beth Roberts had been investigating claims that the man, Marquis Jackson, had stolen his girlfriend's vehicle and was making threats.

The girlfriend could be heard wailing after Hernandez unloaded bullets into the vehicle, quickly followed by Roberts, who'd run to the deputy's assistance. "I've been shot through the car," yelled Hernandez, who had by this time crawled across the street to take shelter behind another vehicle. "Ow," he moaned. Seconds later, he told Roberts, "I feel weird but I'm good." In an investigative report, Capt. Robert Wagner of the Office of Professional Standards found Roberts' use of deadly force against the uninjured Jackson was "objectively reasonable," while Hernandez's was not, per the Northwest Florida Daily News. However, Sheriff Eric Aden said there was "no reason to think former Deputy Hernandez acted with any malice" as "he felt his life was in immediate peril."

Though Jackson was patted down before being placed in the patrol vehicle, Hernandez had been about to perform a second search when the acorn hit him, per the Post. He told investigators he didn't know what it felt like to be shot but that the sound of the acorn hitting the vehicle sounded like a suppressed weapon. Jackson's girlfriend had shown Roberts a photo in which the suspect appeared to have a firearm suppressor, per the Daily News. Aden noted "the deputies were cleared of any criminal wrongdoing." Still, "we let the public down." Declining to take part in a second interview as part of the investigation, Hernandez resigned from the sheriff's office on Dec. 4, per the Daily News. (More police officers stories.)