Deputy David Jones of the Garfield County, Utah Sheriff’s Office was shot during a routine traffic stop Sunday night. Deputy Jones was a friend of a Police1 member and Forums Moderator (User Name - JakeLaw). If you’re in the “Officer-Only” section of the Police1 forums stop into the “Clowns” category and leave your condolences.
All of us at Police1 send our deepest sympathies to the deputy’s family and friends. It was a very tragic incident.
Officer Information: Deputy David Jones
Garfield county Sheriff’s Office, Escalante Utah
End of Watch: Sunday January 26, 2003
Biographical Info:
Age: 44
Tour of Duty: 2 1/2 years
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details:
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Sunday Jan. 26, 2003
Weapon Used: Handgun
Suspect Info: Critical condition with a bullet in his right lung.
ESCALANTE, Utah -- In this town of 1,000 residents, where Deputy David C. Jones was living his dream of being a law enforcement officer surrounded by wide open spaces, residents are struggling to accept his death. “It is a shock, but we have strength in the department,” said a weary Sheriff Than Cooper, who spent Sunday night at the shooting scene. “The loss of one deputy out of seven is a big loss. It is a loss for the town, too. The person who protected them is no longer there.”
Prosecutors in Garfield County, Utah are discussing the possibility of seeking the death penalty against a man accused of shooting and killing a sheriff’s deputy during a routine traffic stop outside of Escalante.
Jones, 44, a Garfield County sheriff’s deputy, was killed with a single shot Sunday after stopping two men in a pickup. He allegedly saw the men drinking alcohol while driving on the dirt Alvey Wash Road five miles south of Escalante. There have been some reports that that Deputy’s wife had called in the DUI from the convenience store where she worked.
Cooper said Jones gave the 50-year-old driver a field sobriety test and determined he was too impaired to drive. Jones handcuffed the man and seated him in his dark blue Chevrolet Tahoe -- the vehicles driven by all seven deputies in this rugged south-central Utah county.
Jones then called for a tow truck to retrieve the men’s 1994 Ford pickup. He was planning on citing the truck passenger for an open container of alcohol, but the 53-year-old man began getting belligerent about having to ride back to town in the tow truck, Cooper said.
The passenger told Jones the windows of the Ford had to be rolled up because there were three dogs inside. Jones rolled up the windows, according to Cooper, and when he turned around he was staring at the barrel of a gun held by the passenger.
Cooper said Jones told the passenger to drop the weapon several times before shots rang out. One bullet pierced Jones’ bulletproof vest, the sheriff said. The shot may have been from a rifle or high-powered handgun. Authorities are analyzing the bulletsJones managed to shoot his own weapon once or twice, wounding the passenger in the arm and the chest. A bullet lodged in the man’s lung, police said Sunday.
As Jones lay dying, police said, the wounded passenger located the key to the handcuffs and unshackled his friend, throwing the handcuffs to the side of the road. The men then drove off in their truck heading south, said Cooper.
The drama was captured on a tape recorder Jones carried, which is now being analyzed by investigators. There were several handguns and rifles found in the men’s pickup, Cooper said. Investigators believe a rifle was used to kill Jones. The deputy’s body was found by the tow truck driver.
The two suspects, both residents of Escalante, were captured about 46 miles from the scene by members of the Arizona Department of Public Safety after a helicopter spotted their truck parked on the roadside in neighboring Kane County.
Officers approached the truck on foot after being dropped off by a helicopter a half-mile away. The driver apparently had stopped the truck several times in an attempt to bandage the wounded passenger, authorities said. After the two were apprehended, the wounded man was flown to a Page, Ariz., hospital, and later transferred to a Flagstaff hospital.. The driver of the pickup was booked into the Iron County Jail in Cedar City.
Nearby, Deputy Ray Gardner rubbed his tired eyes in his own patrol vehicle. “It’s hard to believe something like this could happen on such a nice Sunday afternoon,” he said. “It’s so unfair. The real tragedy is the loss to the family.” Jones’ wife, Carolyn, spoke briefly to reporters outside the couple’s home. “Dave wanted to be a cop and be in the middle of nowhere,” she said. “It made him happy. He was killed in his favorite place -- Alvey Wash.”
Carolyn Jones said her husband had been in the Army and worked as an air traffic controller before paying his own way through the state police certification program. The couple lived in West Jordan while David Jones worked for the Utah Department of Transportation as an armed security guard on TRAX trains. The Joneses celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary last week.
The couple’s two youngest children, ages 6 and 8, were dealing with the death of their father as well as could be expected, she said, but their 17-year-old son was having a tough time. Their 22-year-old son was flying home from Kentucky, where he is stationed in the Army. A 21-year-old son spent his birthday Monday grieving for his father, she said. Carolyn Jones thanked all the agencies that are investigating her husband’s shooting and those who apprehended the suspects. Still, “our lives have been devastated by this, and we’re trying to pick up the pieces,” she said.
Funeral services are scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m. at the Escalante LDS Stake Center, with burial to follow Saturday at the Orem City Cemetery at 11 a.m.