Okaloosa County Florida is located in the Florida panhandle between Panama City and Pensacola. Its Sheriff’s Office has 325 deputies serving a population of about 200,000.
In the last seven months, Okaloosa deputies have made the news (and flooded social media) for deputy-initiated shootings. The first shooting in November 2023 was nothing short of comical and, fortunately, didn’t result in a fatality. In fact, no one was even injured.
On the morning of November 12, 2023, three deputies made a call for service from Ms. Celestiana Lopez who said “Her boyfriend, Mr. Marquis Jackson, was refusing to return her vehicle and had been calling and texting her threats.”
The deputies arrested Jackson, handcuffed him, searched him, and put him in the back of Deputy Jesse Hernandez’s patrol car. Jackson wasn’t violent. He was compliant. Two deputies spoke to Lopez while Hernandez…
