Kettering (Ohio) police officer Jonathon McCoy gave nearly 30 commands to the occupants of a gray Ford van last Sunday once he saw the front-seat passenger had a gun in his right front pocket.
What started as a traffic stop of the woman driver for not signaling while changing lanes and malfunctioning brake lights escalated into an officer firing nine shots at Jason Hoops.
Many of McCoy’s commands included swear words as he yelled, “You reach for that gun I will blow your brains out, do you (expletive) understand me?”
Kettering police Chief Chip Protsman said during a Friday press conference that in the 69 seconds from when McCoy noticed a Ruger handgun’s grip sticking out of Hoops’ front-right pants pocket, the officer told Hoops many times to comply.
Protsman said McCoy told Hoops six times to get his hands up, six times to put his hands on the dash, four times not to move, twice not to reach for the gun, twice not to do anything stupid and four times to relax.
“Through the investigation, we now know that at that time, that Mr. Hoops was looking at him and his hands did drop down towards where the weapon was again and the officer fired again for the second time because he felt threatened.”
Hoops, 33, died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office.
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