Victim of Columbus police officer-involved shooting tells his side of the story

A man shot by Columbus police officers during a traffic stop in February on Manchester Expressway told his side of the story Thursday.

At a press conference, Jermaine Hernandez said he was traveling along Manchester Expressway heading to work and had passed the Miller Road exit when he noticed a police car on the side of the road. He said he moved over and slowed down causing his vehicle to make a popping noise.

A news release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Columbus Police officers pulled over a vehicle that was traveling 100 mph in a construction zone.

Hernandez was identified as the driver of the car, according to the GBI.

Hernandez said the police vehicle pulled out and put its lights on, prompting him to pull over and prepare the proper documents for the stop.

Earlier in his ride, he said he had tried to spit out the window and now wanted to clean up the residue before police approached the car. He grabbed his son’s blanket to clean it. Hernandez said while cleaning it he accidentally pressed the gas pedal, causing the vehicle’s engine to rev and the car to backfire.

The GBI release corroborated that aspect of his story, stating that Hernandez’s car reportedly backfired during the traffic stop causing a loud noise that sounded like gunfire.

Hernandez said his hands went straight up when the shooting began. He said a bullet went through his front windshield directly over his steering wheel.

Hernandez said a bullet struck him in the hand while his hands were outside the window and caused him to raise his hands higher.

“I don’t know if they saw my hands or what, but they’re obviously out the window,” said Hernandez.

Hernandez said he saw his finger bent sideways with blood dripping down his wrist. He began to yell that he was unarmed, that he was on his way to work and he has a newborn child, who was not in the car.

When officers began to approach his vehicle after ceasing fire he said he began pointing with his head on how to unlock his car doors.

“Please get me out,” Hernandez said he told officers.

When he was out of the vehicle he said he was taken to the back of his vehicle with his arm straight up and one officer gripping his elbow.

Hernadez said officers asked if he was okay and if he got hit anywhere else.

Hernandez asked officers to check and see if he got hit in his shoulder. He said officers repeated that they weren’t going to do that until the ambulance came.

When Hernandez told his son about the incident he said his son told him “Good thing I wasn’t in the car, I could’ve been shot too.”

“That was one of the hardest things for me to hear from my son,” Hernandez said, holding back tears. “The only thing I could tell him was I would never let anything like that happen to him.”

This story was originally published February 22, 2024 at 4:57 PM.