For the third time this year, the sole survivor of a deadly police shooting in November has been arrested and jailed on felony drug charges, reports News 6 partner Florida Today.
Jacquan Kimbrough-Rucker, 20, was the surviving passenger in a car during a shooting in which two teenagers were shot and killed by a Brevard County Sheriff’s Office deputy. State Attorney Phil Archer issued a statement in April that the deputy’s use of force was justified and that no criminal charges would be filed.
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Sheriff Wayne Ivey posted a statement Friday night on Facebook decrying Kimbrough-Rucker’s recent releases from jail and called for judges not to allow him to be released on bail.
The arrest came after an investigation into drug activity at a Hickory Lane home in Cocoa where undercover detectives reportedly arranged to buy cocaine from Kimbrough-Rucker, according to Ivey. Agents were then able to obtain a warrant for his arrest.
He is being charged with two counts of sale of cocaine and two counts of cocaine possession.
Deputies attempted to arrest Kimbrough-Rucker on Thursday until he fled from them at a high rate of speed. The apprehension was paused out of concern for public safety, Ivey said.
Agents with the GAMEOVER Task Force and the Sheriff’s Office helicopter unit reportedly tracked Kimbrough-Rucker as he drove through Cocoa before abandoning his vehicle on Varr Avenue and fleeing on foot.
After a brief foot chase, detectives were able to take him into custody, Ivey reported.
GAMEOVER, as the task force is known, is a collaborative effort with the Sheriff’s Office, police departments, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, State Attorney’s office and others addressing criminal activity with gangs and drugs in local communities.
“This case and arrest is a perfect example of what your local law enforcement officers and citizens are faced with, criminals who continue to victimize our community and threaten our citizens’ safety only to continuously be released on bond so that our Deputies can go chase and arrest them over and over!!” the statement reads.
“Hopefully, this time the presiding Judge will do the right thing and leave him in jail where he belongs before he hurts or kills someone!!”
Kimbrough-Rucker was being held at the Brevard County Jail on $58,000 bail, set by a judge when detectives obtained a warrant for his arrest.
On Nov. 13 of last year, Kimbrough-Rucker was riding in the passenger seat when 16-year-old A.J. Crooms and 18-year-old Sincere Pierce were shot and killed by a deputy.
The Sheriff’s Office and State Attorney’s Office have said that Crooms drove at Deputy Jafet Santiago-Miranda with his foot pressed down on the accelerator, giving the deputy reasonable justification to use deadly force to protect himself.
He fired multiple times into the vehicle, shooting Crooms and Pierce, who was sitting in the driver’s-side back seat at the time. Families and activists have decried the shooting, saying that the young men were attempting to flee the traffic stop and not harm the deputy.
After reviewing an investigation by Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Archer’s office issued a decision April 21 that it would not pursue charges against the deputy.
High-profile civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump blamed a “culture of recklessness” at the Sheriff’s Office in the shooting and has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice. He also is leading a federal suit against the deputy and the sheriff.