Okaloosa Deputy Fires Shots After Thinking Acorn Was A Gunshot

Source: Douglas Sacha / Getty

Florida has harbored some of the dumbest people to ever walk planet Earth but these cops, one in particular, will forever be the heavyweight dumba** champion of the world.

According to a WKRG report, on Nov. 12, 2023, 22-year-old Marquis Jackson of Okaloosa County was accused of stealing a car, creating a public disturbance by incessantly honking the horn, sending threatening text messages, and making phone calls to the vehicle’s owner. When police arrived on the scene, Jackson was arrested, properly searched, handcuffed and put in the back of Deputy Jesse Hernandez’s patrol car. What happened next is one of the worst examples of police ineptitude that we have ever seen, and that’s saying a lot.

As Deputy Hernandez approached his vehicle to search Jackson again, he claimed that he heard a “pop” sound. He allegedly believed that not only was it a gunshot but that he was hit by said gunshot. The thing is, the handcuffed unarmed man who had been extensively searched didn’t fire a gunshot. Instead, the sound Hernandez heard was just an acorn that fell on his car.

The Telegraph reports that Deputy Hernandez was interviewed by investigator Michael Hogan and he was adamant that he heard a “suppressed weapon” being fired, but he was wrong, per bodycam footage of a single acorn hitting his patrol vehicle.

“What I heard sounded what I think would be louder than an acorn hitting the roof of the car, but there’s obviously an acorn hitting the roof of the car,” admitted the officer.

Here’s what happened next…

Not only did Hernandez wild out and start dumping rounds into his own car, but his partner, Sgt. Beth Roberts, was so shaken by his cry for help that she began dumping rounds into the vehicle too!

Fortunately, both Hernandez and Roberts are such bad shots that a single bullet didn’t hit Jackson. However, the trauma from that day is something that will stay with him for the rest of his life. He took to Facebook to recount the harrowing incident in the wake of the body camera footage being released to the public:

“All I could do was lean over and play dead to prevent getting shot in the head,” Jackson who said he was “scared to death,” wrote on Facebook. “Windows were shattering on me the whole time as bullets continued flying across me.”

He added that his mental health has waivered because of the incident.

“I truly believe I’m damaged for life!” he wrote.

Following an internal investigation by Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Professional Standards, Hernandez was found to have violated department policy as his actions were deemed “not objectively reasonable” but Roberts was exonerated as she was reacting to a fellow officer’s fear. As a result, Hernandez resigned from the police force.

Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden posted a video on the department’s YouTube page addressing the situation and said they were grateful that Marquis Jackson wasn’t injured.

What type of moron confuses an acorn with a gunshot? These are professional police officers who have heard gunshots, trained and been instructed on firearms, and he can’t tell the difference?? If you’re that scared then you don’t need to be a cop.