Dante Redmond Jones traveling 82 mph down a Franklin County back road was pursued by three Franklin County Deputies who shot and killed the unarmed Jones.

The Special Investigative Units (cops investigating cops) Summary follows:

Event — On 11/18/19 at 0308hrs, a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed passed Sgt Thomasson. As the vehicle passed Sgt Thomasson, it honked at him. Sgt Thomasson was able to get a radar reading on the vehicle showing that the car was speeding at 82MPH. Sgt Thomasson called Deputy Quantrell on the radio and asked him if he saw the same vehicle. Deputy Quantrell said that he did see the vehicle and that it honked at him as they passed as well. Sgt Thomasson then began to try to catch up to the vehicle, but Sgt Thomasson stated that he could not see the vehicle anymore due to the speed of the vehicle and the fog. Deputy Quantrell and Deputy Gardner began heading toward Sgt Thomasson’s location to assist him. At this point Sgt Thomasson did not activate his emergency lights because he was not sure where the vehicle was. Sgt Thomasson knew that there was a T intersection at Taylor Flats and Ringold so at this point he thought that it was a good possibility that the driver might not be able to navigate the 0004 Special Investigations Unit (SIU) Investigation Summary FCSO 19-05347 Page 4 of 10 intersection at the speeds he was driving. As Sgt Thomasson approached the intersection, he saw that the vehicle had slowed down and appeared to be waiting for the police vehicle to catch up to him. As Sgt Thomasson approached and when both vehicles were within view of each other the suspect vehicle took off again, heading west on Ringold. Sgt Thomasson followed the vehicle, still not activating his emergency lights because of the distance between their vehicles. He estimated that the closest he was able to get to the vehicle was about 200 yards and at times would pull away to 400-500 yards. When Sgt Thomasson passed R-170 and Davis Lane, he could see Deputy Quantrell and Deputy Gardner’s vehicle lights behind him. At one point, Sgt Thomasson said on the radio, “He just went dark”. I took this to mean that the driver of the suspect vehicle turned his vehicle lights off, although Sgt Thomasson did not mention this in his interview. At 0313hrs, Sgt Thomasson advised Dispatch that he was trying to catch a vehicle that was driving 80+ miles per hour in the fog and that so far he had been unable to catch up to the vehicle. He asked Dispatch to advise Adams County. He also advised Dispatch that he was not in pursuit because so far he was unable to get close enough to the vehicle to even turn on his emergency lights. Deputy Quantrell advised that he and Deputy Gardner were also trying to catch up to the vehicle. According to Sgt Thomasson, at about the intersection of R-170 and Sheffield he told them that their vehicles were faster than his vehicle and he told them to pass him so that they could get closer to the suspect vehicle. This happened at 0318hrs according to the radio call records. At 0319hrs, Deputy Quantrell advised Dispatch of the suspect vehicle’s plate number and stated that the driver was failing to yield. According to Deputy Quantrell during his interview, just prior to this radio transmission, he was able to catch up to the vehicle because it had stopped in the road at an intersection and was waiting for him (Deputy Quantrell) to catch up. Deputy Quantrell stated that after calling out the plate, the vehicle took off. Deputy Quantrell stated that his lights were on and after the vehicle took off from the stop, he turned his siren on as well and pursued the vehicle. According to Deputy Gardner’s statement, he was right behind Deputy Quantrell and saw the suspect vehicle stopped in the middle of an intersection waiting for them to catch up. DeputyGardner said that he and Deputy Quantrell came up behind the vehicle and actually came to a stop behind the vehicle prior to it leaving the scene of the attempted stop, at a high rate of speed. Deputy Gardner said that prior to the vehicle taking off he activated his emergency lights as if he was attempting to make a traffic stop. At 0319hrs, Deputy Quantrell advised Dispatch that the driver of the vehicle had tried to brake check him. In their interviews, Deputy Quantrell described this as the driver of the vehicle slammed on his brakes hard and that when he had done that Deputy Quantrell almost rearended the suspect’s vehicle. Deputy Quantrell said that the only way that he was able to avoid hitting the suspect’s vehicle was because he steered his vehicle into the opposite lane of travel, thus avoiding the collision. Deputy Gardner described the incident similarly and stated that he believed that the suspect was trying to initiate a collision between their vehicles and his. 0005 Special Investigations Unit (SIU) Investigation Summary FCSO 19-05347 Page 5 of 10 Deputy Gardner only described one near collision due to a brake check type incident in his statement until the terminate pursuit command was given by Sgt Thomasson. Deputy Quantrell talked about two near collisions prior to the terminate pursuit command in his statement, but they seem to describe the second near collision the same and it would appear that one of them is confused about the timeline of events. During this second event, both Deputies say that when Deputy Quantrell narrowly avoided colliding with the suspect vehicle he had to veer to the right of the suspect’s vehicle. When Deputy Quantrell did this, the suspect intentionally steered his vehicle to the right as well, in what appeared to be an attempt to ram or collide with the Deputy’s vehicle. At 0323hrs, a Deputy (the Deputy does not identify himself by a call sign, but it sounds like Deputy Quantrell) tells Dispatch that the suspect had just tried to hit his car and that he had an Assault 1. He then stated, “Frank 10 just be advised he’s trying to hit us at this point”. Deputy Quantrell in his interview goes on to describe what happened next in the following manner; He stated that after the terminate pursuit command was given by Sgt Thomasson, they both (Deputy Quantrell and Deputy Gardner) turned their emergency lights off and he (Deputy Quantrell) could see that the vehicle had again come to a stop in the middle of the road. He is again approaching the vehicle as he continued driving after turning his emergency lights off. As he got close to the car, Deputy Quantrell stated that he saw the suspect vehicle’s reverse light come on. The vehicle then began backing at a high rate of speed towards Deputy Quantrell’s patrol car. Deputy Quantrell stated that the suspect was in the middle of the road at this point and that the suspect backed up until he was just parallel to the driver’s side of Deputy Quantrell’s patrol car and came to a stop. Deputy Quantrell stated that after the vehicle backed up next to him and came to a stop he (Deputy Quantrell) exited his vehicle and drew his weapon. Because of where the vehicles were positioned, the suspect’s passenger door was right where Deputy Quantrell was standing as he exited his patrol vehicle. He said that he tried the door handle of the front passenger door and it was unlocked. He opened the vehicle door and started giving commands to the driver. Deputy Quantrell described these commands as “let me see your hands” and “you’re under arrest”. Deputy Quantrell said that the driver looked at him but did not say anything. As this was happening, Deputy Quantrell said that he started to move into the car with the intention of using his left hand to grab the key and turn the car off. Deputy Quantrell was halfway into the car when he (the driver) looked at him and shifted the gearshift into drive and began accelerating with Deputy Quantrell halfway in the car. When the car began to accelerate, Deputy Quantrell said that the passenger door closed on him and he became pinned between the seat and the car door. Deputy Quantrell said that when the driver accelerated and he became pinned half in and half out of the car, he feared that he would be drug under the car or ran over. Fearing that he would be gravely injured or killed, he discharged his handgun at the driver in an attempt to stop him. Deputy Quantrell stated that he then fell out of the car and landed face down on the pavement as the car continued to accelerate and drive off. Deputy Gardner describes the event as follows. He was behind Deputy Quantrell and the suspect vehicle when the suspect vehicle came to a stop parallel to Deputy Quantrell’s vehicle.

Deputy Gardner said that he was about 75 feet behind their vehicles. Deputy Gardner said that by the time he had exited his vehicle, he observed that Deputy Quantrell was already inside the suspect’s vehicle. Deputy Gardner said that he heard Deputy Quantrell giving verbal commands to the suspect. He said that he could not hear everything Deputy Quantrell was saying but remembered hearing “Franklin County” and “hands”. Deputy Gardner described Deputy Quantrell as having his entire torso in the suspect’s car. Deputy Gardner said that the vehicle then recklessly continued northbound with Deputy Quantrell still inside the vehicle. He stated that he saw Deputy Quantrell being dragged while half his body was still inside and he then heard gunshots and saw flashes coming from inside the car. At that point, he did not know who was shooting. Deputy Quantrell then fell out of the car as it continued northbound. Deputy Gardner said that he ran up to Deputy Quantrell to find out if he was okay. When Deputy Quantrell stated that he was okay, he ran back to his patrol vehicle and continued the pursuit. According to the radio traffic, the above descriptions of the incident happened in a very short amount of time as illustrated below by the radio traffic: 03:22:43AM – Deputy Quantrell states, “copy, do you care if we still follow from a distance, he’s stopping in the road now at this point” 03:23:16AM – Deputy Quantrell states, “he just tried to hit my car, I have assault 1”. 03:23:24AM – Deputy Quantrell states, “F10 just be advised, he’s trying to hit us at this point” 03:23:55AM – Deputy Quantrell states, F37 dispatch, shots fired, suspects been hit. He’s still continuing northbound. After Deputy Quantrell fell out of the suspect vehicle, Sgt Thomasson, Deputy Gardner and Deputy Quantrell continued their pursuit of the suspect. The suspect drove approximately 1.5 more miles before veering off the road into a field of tree saplings. Sgt Thomasson, who was the first vehicle behind the suspect, paralleled the suspect while remaining on the road as it went into the field. As the vehicle slowed, Sgt Thomasson drove into the field down a row that separated the fields and did not contain metal T-Posts. He was able to intercept the suspect vehicle as it slowed and came to a stop. Sgt Thomasson drove his vehicle up and pinned the passenger side door with the front of his vehicle, preventing anyone from being able to open or exit the vehicle from that side. Deputy Gardner and Deputy Quantrell were close behind and approached the vehicle around the front while Sgt Thomasson covered the vehicle from the rear passenger side. In order to get a better visual inside the car Sgt Thomasson broke the back passenger window out of the car. Deputy Gardner and Deputy Quantrell approached the driver’s door and opened the door. The driver, later identified as Dante Jones, was conscious but was not responding to any of the officer’s commands. They extricated him from the vehicle and placed him in handcuffs. They then began looking for gunshot wounds and providing first aid. Jones remained conscious but non-verbal until the ambulance arrived at around 0415hrs. Once the ambulance arrived, they loaded him and shortly after loading him, he stopped breathing and they started CPR. Around 0420hrs, the volunteer ambulance met a Pasco Fire Ambulance so that he could be transferred to their care for the remainder of the trip. At that 0007 Special Investigations Unit (SIU) Investigation Summary FCSO 19-05347 Page 7 of 10 point Pasco Fire Medics called the hospital and spoke to a doctor who told gave them permission to “call it”. They stopped all care at that point and notified Dispatch. The Ambulance moved to a nearby fire station and Captain Huber with FCSO responded to where the Ambulance was and stood by with the body until SIU arrived.