Florida deputy mistakes falling acorn for gunshot, fires into patrol car with Black man inside

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A Florida sheriff’s deputy mistook the sound of an acorn hitting his patrol vehicle’s roof for a gunshot and fired multiple times at the SUV where a handcuffed Black man was sitting in the backseat. The man was being questioned in November about stealing his girlfriend’s car. He wasn’t injured and was later released without being charged. The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s office recently released the body camera footage. Investigators viewing Deputy Jesse Hernandez’s body camera video saw an acorn falling just before shots were fired. An internal affairs report by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office concluded the shooting was “not objectively reasonable.” He resigned Dec. 4, but was not charged with a crime.