Authorities in Tennessee are investigating the actions of some of their officers.
This follows the release of a video showing them brutally beating a man accused of fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend, a medical student.
After the alleged shooting of 22-year-old Ellie Claire Young, 24-year-old Jackson Hopper led law enforcement on a chase across multiple counties.
The pursuit ended when police executed a PIT maneuver, causing Hopper’s vehicle to flip.
Officers then dragged him out and repeatedly punched him for about 30 seconds, as captured in a bystander's cell phone video.
Mugshots of Hopper displayed significant swelling on his face and a black eye.
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| Jackson Hopper's mugshot |
The Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office, where the incident occurred, made a statement on Facebook.
They announced they are “conducting an internal affairs investigation into any allegations of officer misconduct.”
The incident began when Hopper allegedly found Young sitting in her parked Jeep.
She was attending the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event at the time.
Witnesses reported that he fired two shots into her vehicle before executing her after she fell to the ground.
During the police chase, it is alleged that Hopper attempted to run over an officer who was deploying spike strips.
A firearm was discovered inside his Honda CR-V.
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| Ellie Claire Young |
“Ellie was such a bright light in this world. It’s going to be tough without her,” said Young’s brother-in-law, Zachary Harris, in an interview with The Post.
“She was a kind person who went to church.
She didn’t drink, swear, or use drugs... Much like Hopper, to be honest,” added a close friend of Hopper.
“Honestly, he was the nicest guy I ever met. I never thought he could do something like this,” said the friend, who requested to remain anonymous.
This friend was the one who introduced Hopper and Young while they were both students at the University of Tennessee in Memphis.
The friend explained that after he had introduced Hopper and Young, they dated happily for three years.
He said that they even had plans to move in together and get married while she attended medical school.
The friend noted that “Hop,” as his friends called him, was never involved in fights.
He said Hopper always spoke fondly of Young, and was always there to support friends in need.
“When I was going through a tough time, he’d take me out for cheeseburgers,” he recalled.
“One time, another friend needed $250 for a vocational certification exam, and Hop lent him the money.”
When the friend last spoke to Hopper in June, he mentioned that Hopper was employed as a bookkeeper for a trailer company, and he believed he and Young were still together.
The friend expressed confusion over what could have led Hopper to this violent act.
“It could be a lot of things that built up over time.
He lost his support system when his friends moved away after college. Plus, he didn’t have a father figure growing up. His mother worked extremely hard as a single parent to help him through college,” he said.
He concluded, “What he did was truly awful, and I can’t defend him.
But people online are portraying him as a violent person, and that isn’t accurate at all. He was genuinely a good guy, and I can’t understand what pushed him to this breaking point.”
In another case, a man and his wife were arrested and charged after they tried to kill his wife's lover.
See details here
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