News

Jun 02, 2023

Jacksonville bodycam video shows May 19 officer

The latest release of police body camera video is another example of a suspect

The latest release of police body camera video is another example of a suspect who'd rather be shot than be arrested and the second within a month to respond that officers were going to have to fire their weapons.

Keeping in line with Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters' revised policy about releasing portions of officers' bodycams within 21 days of a police shooting, he and Chief of Professional Standards Chris Brown posted their seventh "critical incident community briefing" of 2023 on the agency's Facebook. It included vantage points from three officers' bodycams.

For print subscribers, the video can be viewed at facebook.com/JacksonvilleSheriffsOffice.

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Brown reiterated these investigations involve multiple interviews and hours of body camera video and forensic analysis and are only a preliminary stage of the ultimate findings between the Sheriff's Office and State Attorney's Office. Discretion also is advised about viewing the footage since it involves a man being killed.

This one happened May 19 and involved a suspect wanted in a Broward County murder that the Sheriff's Office provided new details about this week.

About a week prior, the Broward County Sheriff's Office contacted Jacksonville police about a murder investigation involving 39-year-old Zonchez Delarfette Prince who lived in Duval County, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. So local officers executed a search warrant on a residence and a vehicle and recovered a pistol in each.

That enabled Broward to issue an arrest warrant for Prince and requested assistance from Jacksonville in arresting him. The Sheriff's Office sent out a SWAT team after tracking him to a shopping center parking lot at 1177 Park Ave. in Orange Park.

The video shows officers in an unmarked pickup truck pull directly behind Prince, who was sitting in his parked car. Having him blocked in and wearing tactical police gear, they make contact with him. One yells, "Sheriff's Office. Step out, step out. You have a warrant for your arrest, step out. … Keep your hands where we can see them. Keep your hands up."

As the officer is ordering him to comply, Prince can vaguely be heard on the recording saying "Just shoot me, man."

"We’re not going to shoot you," another officer at the front responds. "Step out of the car. Show us your hands, sir." He sees him do something that can't be detected in the video but the Sheriff's Office previously said was Prince pointing the gun, and the officer immediately opens fire. Another officer from the rear also fires.

They check if everything's secure and discuss if they can start medical aid. They also secure a 10mm handgun that Brown said was loaded with one round in the chamber and seven rounds in the magazine.

Due to the positioning of the officers and how fast everything transpired, the videos do not clearly show Prince with the weapon.

Brown said Prince and brother Brandon Napoleon Prince, 34, are accused of planning to kill a man named Jazzy Johnson on May 12. When approached, Johnson and another man identified as Andrew Jamal Ford fled in separate directions, and Ford, 32, was shot.

Brandon Prince of Pompano Beach was arrested in Fort Lauderdale on May 21, according to the Broward County Sheriff's Office.

Their names are protected under the state's Marsy's Law, but they were two white males, according to the Sheriff's Office. The Florida Supreme Court heard arguments in December about whether the identities of officers who kill suspects can be kept secret under Marsy's Law, a constitutional amendment designed to protect victims of crime.

An independent investigation of the case will be conducted by the State Attorney's Office to determine if the officers' actions were lawful. The Sheriff's Office will then begin an administrative review that involves its internal Response to Resistance Review Board, which will hear testimony from the officers and decide if any policies were violated. The sheriff will make a final decision on any recommendations that could call for reprimands or additional training.

On April 18 an off-duty officer working at Baptist Medical Center South attempted to stop a suspicious driver who was circling the parking lot. When the man later identified as 38-year-old Jeffrey Alan Martin fled, other officers responded. One raised a hand and told him to stop the car several times, according to the Sheriff's Office. But Martin rolled the window down slightly, held out a gun and said, "Shoot it."

The officer didn't shoot, and then the driver pulled up next to another police car and fired one shot into the vehicle, the Sheriff's Office said. Other officers followed him and attempted to force the car sideways to get the driver to stop. The pit maneuver failed, and the driver was able to get behind that same officer's vehicle and ram it. He pushed it forward and then rammed another one head-on and crashed into a stop sign or pole.

April 18 police shooting: What went down outside Jacksonville hospital where an officer was shot? Bodycam shows us

Officers then used their vehicles to block him in and gave him repeated commands to get out of the car. When Officer Taylor Smith tried to open his door, the suspect shot him in the face, the Sheriff's Office said. Five officers returned fire, killing Martin.

Smith is still recovering.

So far this year, Jacksonville police have shot seven suspects, six fatally. In 2022, Times-Union records show they shot 12 suspects, eight of whom died.