JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – An internal affairs investigation ruled officers involved in bursting into a woman’s home and detaining her in a case of mistaken identity did have the legal authority to enter her home because they were investigating reports of gunfire.
Khristi Jackson told the News4JAX I-Team in 2023 that JSO officers didn’t have probable cause to enter her Northside apartment. Officers said they were responding to reports of a physical altercation and someone discharging a shotgun. They also said eyewitnesses directed the officers to Jackson’s apartment.
“I heard the single gunshot, and then very shortly after, I heard an 18 or person shot, come over the radio,” JSO officer Jordan Fincher said.
Police relied on an image of the suspect from that night and Fincher said eyewitnesses identified the shooter as a woman with orange-reddish hair. They said the description was almost identical to Jackson.
“She was very close, and you can even see officer Fincher was like ‘that’s her,’ and even afterward we were still confused about who she was,” Officer Mark Register said.
JSO officers eventually detained Jackson and said she refused to identify herself.
“Her refusing to identify herself really caused the whole issue to begin with, if she would have said, ‘I’m not her, I’ll grab my ID and show you,’ and if I remember correctly, we had to get another resident to get her ID, because she refused to identify herself,” Register said.
Internal affairs ultimately found that officers Rose, Fincher, and Matthew Zona (who initiated entry into Jackson’s home) acted appropriately by attempting to contact the suspect at Jackson’s residence due to witness statements placing the suspect in the apartment.
Adding that the officers “had the legal authority to enter Jackson’s home due to the presence or urgent” or “exigent” circumstances. Internal affairs said that once the officers believed they were speaking with Jackson, they believed they were speaking with the suspect in an aggravated assault.
All three officers said they wouldn’t have done anything different from that day.
Police said they could have charged Khristi Jackson with resisting arrest and battery on a police officer, but they chose not to because they realized they detained the wrong woman.
The police report said the suspect was ultimately found in the apartment. Jackson was unavailable for comment.
All the officers involved have been exonerated on allegations of improper action.