Suspect killed while trying to escape in a police car

By LORA HINES - 11/27/02
Staff Writer, Richland County, South Carolina

A handcuffed suspect was shot and killed Tuesday by a Richland County 
sheriff's deputy when he tried to escape.

Chad Jones, 19, of 3632 Judy St., was fatally wounded after he wiggled 
into the driver's seat of the police cruiser and tried to drive off.

Shot once in the head, Jones died at 10:58 a.m. at Palmetto Health 
Richland hospital, said Gary Watts, Richland County coroner.

State Law Enforcement Division investigators will determine whether 
charges should be filed. They would not discuss the investigation.

Sheriff Leon Lou said the three deputies involved in shooting followed 
policy and training to stop Jones. They were not immediately identified.

"It was a just shooting. Whatever happened was caused by Mr. Jones, not 
the deputies.

Jones' escape attempt was Houdini-like.

After he was arrested about 8:15 a.m., deputies handcuffed his hands 
behind his back and put him in the back sear of a cruiser, Lott said.

More than two hours later Jones contorted himself so that his hands, 
still in handcuffs, were in front of him.

The 5-foot, 6-inch, 160-pound man then squeezed through a foot-square 
open window in the Plexiglas that separates the front and back seats 
of the cruiser.

The deputies were finishing paperwork on the hood of the car and hadn't 
noticed Jones' movements, Lott said.

Jones put the car in gear and tried to drive off.

The deputies dove out of the way and fired shots at Jones, Lott said. 
One shot hit Jones in the head.

The car crashed after he was hit.

"His weapon was the car," Lott said. "The deputies knew he was a
dangerous person."

Jones' shooting ended what had started as a pursuit of a stolen vehicle
about 8 a.m. near Chestnut and Waverly streets, Lott said.

Two deputies serving warrants saw a stolen Jeep Cherokee and pursued 
it until the Jeep crashed near Waverly Street Apartments, Loft said.

Deputies chased the driver, who they later identified as Jones, into 
an enclosed back porch at 2300 Chestnut St., Lott said.

After arresting him, deputies learned that Columbia police had been
looking for Jones since Nov.14, when he was accused of firing a gun 
at his ex-girlfriend's house. He was also accused of shooting a
man in the foot on Oct. 4.

Deputies found a loaded revolver and crack cocaine on Jones after
they arrested him, Lott said.

Deputies had charged Jones with possession of a stolen vehicle, 
unlawful possession of a weapon, possession with intent to
distribute crack cocaine, failure to stop for police and burglary. 

After putting him in the back of the cruiser, they called for a paddy 
wagon to take him to Richland County jail, Lott said.

The shooting will change the way deputies deal with suspects in their
cars, Lott said.

To talk with prisoners in the back seat, deputies have been sliding 
open a small window in the Plexiglas safety partition.

Lott said Jones is the first suspect to wiggle through that opening.

We'll be preventing that from happening again," he said. 
"We might have to put a microphone back there for people to
talk into."


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