On January 5, 2020, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Officer Nicholas Lawson (“Officer
Lawson”) attempted to perform a traffic stop on a stolen car. The car fled at high speeds, hit
another car and then ultimately crashed into a concrete pole of a pedest…
On January 5, 2020, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Officer Nicholas Lawson (“Officer
Lawson”) attempted to perform a traffic stop on a stolen car. The car fled at high speeds, hit
another car and then ultimately crashed into a concrete pole of a pedestrian overpass. When
Officer Lawson approached the suspect vehicle, the backseat passenger pointed a rifle at him. In
fear for his life, Officer Lawson opened fire, wounding the backseat passenger who pointed the
firearm at him and killing the front seat passenger, Kwame Jones.
The details are as follows: On January 5, 2020, at 9:19 p.m., Officer Lawson attempted to
perform a traffic stop on a stolen car for careless driving and taillight violations. Officer Lawson
advised over the radio that he was in pursuit of a possibly impaired driver. After Officer
Lawson turned on his emergency lights, the driver of the car sped off and turned off the
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headlights. The driver fled, drove into oncoming traffic at a speed of 70 mph1, ran a red light at
Moncrief and 45th Street, struck another vehicle in the intersection, and crashed into a
pedestrian overpass.
When Officer Lawson arrived at the crash, he got out of his vehicle and commanded the
occupants to exit the car. Officer Lawson described an “assault rifle-type firearm” pointed
directly at him by the backseat passenger on the driver’s side. This passenger was Joseph Carter
(“Carter”). Officer Lawson fired at Carter until the firearm was no longer pointed at him and
Carter moved to the passenger side of the car. At the time of the shooting, the driver, Bobby
Whitty (“Whitty”), had already fled from the car. Officer Lawson’s bullets struck Carter and
the front seat passenger, Kwamae Jones (“Jones”), wounding Carter and killing Jones.
