Florida police open fire on black suspect after falling acorn sounded like gunshot

FLORIDA police opened fire on an unarmed black man they had handcuffed in a patrol car after mistaking the sound of a falling acorn for a gunshot.

Bodycam footage shows Deputy Jesse Hernandez flinging himself to the ground and pulling out his gun after an acorn bounced off the roof of his patrol vehicle.

Apparently believing that Marquis Jackson was shooting at him – even though the 22-year-old had been searched for weapons twice – he fired his semi-automatic pistol.

“Shots fired,” Mr Hernandez yelled while firing at the vehicle.

When his colleague, Sgt Beth Roberts, shouted to check if he was safe, Mr Hernandez groaned as he collapsed on his side and answered: “I’m hit! I’m hit!”

“He shot through the car,” Mr Hernandez added, pulling himself on his hands and knees to drag himself behind a nearby vehicle.

Believing her colleague had been shot as he stumbled around on the street, Sgt Roberts then opened fire on the car herself.

Trapped on the back seat and still handcuffed, Mr Jackson said he could only slump down to avoid “getting shot in the head”as the car’s rear window shattered.

“I’m good,” Mr Hernandez shouted as he sheltered behind a grey Tesla, gun still in hand. “I feel weird but I’m good … it might have hit my vest.”

Interviewed after the incident by Michael Hogan, an investigator, the deputy said he had “definitely” heard a “suppressed weapon” firing.

“I felt an impact on my right side, like upper-torso area … my legs just give out,” he claimed.

When shown images from his bodycam which showed the falling acorn hitting his car, Deputy Hernandez asked: “Acorn?” Mr Hogan confirmed: “Acorn.”

Questioned about whether if he could have mistaken the sound of the acorn hitting the car for gunfire, he answered: “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.”

Mr Jackson, who had been arrested on suspicion of stealing his girlfriend’s car, was not harmed as the two officers shot at him, although he said he had been traumatised by the incident.

“All I could do was lean over and play dead to prevent getting shot in the head,” he wrote in a Facebook post after the incident.

Mr Hernandez, who served two tours of Afghanistan as an officer but did not see direct combat, resigned while under investigation in December last year.