Marquis Jackson was handcuffed in the back of a police car when officers began firing into the car after being startled by an acorn.
In November 2023, a police officer in Okaloosa County, Florida got in a heated shootout with an acorn, endangering the life of a detained man who was handcuffed in the car.
In a video that has gone viral on social media this week both for its absurdity and terrifying implications, Deputy Jesse Hernandez hears an acorn drop onto his car. In response, he dramatically rolls on the ground while repeatedly shouting “shots fired!” and unloading his sidearm into the vehicle, shattering its back window.
At the time, a handcuffed man named Marquis Jackson was inside the vehicle. Jackson is a Black Florida resident who had been detained by Hernandez and his partner, Sergeant Beth Roberts, after being accused of stealing a car and sending threatening messages to his girlfriend. One of the messages included what police said was an image of a pistol silencer.
After rolling on the ground, Hernandez shouted “I’m hit!”—he had not been hit—and told Roberts that shots were coming from inside the car. Roberts also unloaded her firearm at the vehicle as Jackson lay in the backseat.
Motherfucker rolling around on the ground going “I’m hit” while shooting his own car, when he was scared by an acorn. Did they check his pockets for a crack pipe?