Plain clothes officer who shot into semi truck reassigned to telephone team

The police officer who shot into a semi truck on an interstate in Florida last month has been reassigned to the telephone team. 

Lieutenant Marc Crawford was placed on administrative leave after the March 10th incident on Interstate 95 in Jacksonville, Florida. Crawford returned to work on Wednesday, April 9th, and has been reassigned to the telephone team, which takes reports for minor incidents over the phone so other officers can focus on more serious incidents. 

According to News4Jax, the circumstances surrounding the shooting are still unclear, and the officer has not made a statement regarding the incident. The 70-year-old truck driver, James Debardeleben, sustained “what appeared to be a non-penetrating gunshot wound,” and multiple bullets were left in his engine compartment.

The report lists the officer’s vehicle as offering “no contributing action” to the accident and lists the semi truck as operating “motor vehicle in careless or negligent manner.” However, the report later states that the officer’s vehicle “was found at fault for the crash.”

Another truck driver who witnessed the incident has offered footage from his dash cam, but there are some technical difficulties preventing officers from using it.

“He gave us consent to get into it, the problem is he doesn’t know how to download it. So we’re working on that, trying to see whatever video footage is in there,” Chief Alan Parker said to The Florida Times-Union.

The State Attorney’s office is currently conducting an investigation. Once that is completed, a JSO administrative investigation will commence. The incident was the fourth officer-involved shooting that Crawford has been a part of in his 21 year career.