Prince Carmen "Rocky" Jones Jr. (1975–September 1, 2000) was an African-American man killed by a police officer in September 2000 in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. Author

Ta-Nehisi Coates Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates ( ; born September 30, 1975) is an American author, journalist, and activist. He gained a wide readership during his time as national correspondent at ''The Atlantic'', where he wrote about cultural, social, and political is ...

attended Jones' memorial service, and later wrote at length about Jones' life and death in his 2015 book ''

Between the World and Me ''Between the World and Me'' is a 2015 nonfiction book written by American author Ta-Nehisi Coates and published by Spiegel & Grau. It was written by Coates as a letter to his then-teenage son about his perception of what the feelings, symbolism ...

'', noting that the tragedies of racism are impossible to escape for Black people, even those well-off.

Biography

Jones was the son of Prince C. Jones Sr. and Dr. Mabel Jones, a physician and the daughter of a

sharecropper Sharecropping is a legal arrangement in which a landowner allows a tenant (sharecropper) to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping is not to be conflated with tenant farming, providing the tenant a ...

. He attended

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, was a personal trainer at a

Washington metropolitan area The Washington metropolitan area, also referred to as the National Capital Region, Greater Washington, or locally as the DMV (short for Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia), is the metropolitan area comprising Washing ...

gym, and was set to enlist in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

. He had an infant daughter, Nina, with his fiancée Candace Carson. He was described as upstanding, religious, and a health food fanatic.

Killing by police

On 1 September 2000, Jones was unarmed and driving his

Jeep Cherokee The Jeep Cherokee is a line of sport utility vehicles (SUV) manufactured and marketed by Jeep over five generations. Marketed initially as a variant of the Jeep Wagoneer (SJ), the Cherokee has evolved from a full-size SUV to one of the first ...

to meet his fiancée. Undercover black police officer Carlton Jones (no relation) of

Prince George County, Maryland Prince George's County (often shortened to PG County or PG) is located in the U.S. state of Maryland bordering the eastern portion of Washington, D.C. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 967,201, making it the second-most populous ...

, followed Jones for 15 miles in an unmarked vehicle into

Fairfax County, Virginia Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. With a population of 1,150,309 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most p ...

. Officer Jones displayed his gun and announced he was police, though he was not in uniform and did not display his badge. According to the officer, Prince Jones rammed the police vehicle with his Jeep, leading the officer to shoot at Jones' Jeep 16 times, striking him six times, including five times in the back. Two witnesses in the 2006 civil trial contradicted the officer's account; one testified that Jones' vehicle was not moving when the shots were fired. Carlton Jones later explained the killing as a case of mistaken identity, and in October 2000 the county prosecutor, Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr., declined to file criminal charges against Officer Jones. This decision aggrieved Prince Jones' family, friends, and local civil rights leaders, who noted Prince George County's documented history of police brutality and decried the continued failure of the criminal justice system to hold police accountable for serious misconduct. The county prosecutor's inaction was tantamount to "legitimizing murder", they said. The Prince George's Fraternal Order of Police lauded the prosecutor's decision, and of Officer Jones said "it's clear that he was defending himself." A memorial service for Jones was held at Howard University. Jones, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Carlton Jones had all spent their undergraduate years at Howard, although none of the men ultimately graduated from the university. In January 2006, a Prince George County Circuit Court civil jury determined that Prince Jones's death at the hands of the Prince George County police was wrongful and awarded $3.7 million in damages to Prince Jones' family. Amounts to be paid to the parents were thrown out by the judge, and the parties reached a settlement of $2.5 million that was accepted as the final arrangement.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Prince Law enforcement controversies in the United States African Americans shot dead by law enforcement officers in Virginia Police brutality in the United States Post–civil rights era in African-American history Race-related controversies in the United States 1975 births 2000 deaths Fairfax County, Virginia

Biography

Killing by police

See also

References