Prince Carmen Jones, a 25-year-old Black Howard University student, was driving his Jeep Cherokee in the early morning hours of September 1, 2000, to visit his fiancée in Fairfax, Virginia. He was followed across the state line by an undercover Prince George’s County, Maryland police officer, Corporal Carlton B. Jones, who pursued him for about 15 miles into Virginia believing Prince Jones was connected to the theft of an officer’s service weapon.

According to the officer’s account, Corporal Jones — in an unmarked vehicle and not in uniform — confronted Prince Jones without displaying a badge, drew his handgun, and says Prince Jones rammed the officer’s car with the Jeep. Corporal Jones fired 16 times, striking Prince Jones six times; five bullets entered his back. Prince Jones, unarmed, drove a short distance before crashing near his fiancée’s home and died of his injuries.

A Virginia prosecutor declined to file criminal charges, and the U.S. Department of Justice later said there was insufficient evidence for federal charges. An internal hearing cleared the officer’s supervisor, Sergeant Al Bailey. The family pursued a civil suit; a Prince George’s County Circuit Court jury found the death wrongful and awarded Prince Jones’s infant daughter $2.5 million in damages.