A former telecommunicator within the Hernando County Sheriff’s Workplace fabricated a narrative about being shot by two Black males so as to deceive authorities about how he was shot in his leg.
The previous regulation enforcement employee really shot himself after which falsely claimed that he was wounded throughout a carjacking incident final month.
After he confessed to mendacity, the 21-year-old, a white man named Dakotah Wooden, was charged with tampering with or fabricating bodily proof, false stories of the fee of crimes, and discharging a firearm in public or residential property.
Sheriff Al Nienhuis mentioned that incidents like this are “comparatively uncommon” earlier than calling Wooden’s case “unlucky” and “disagreeable.”
“My administration, nevertheless, has a really public status of holding my folks accountable for his or her actions,” Nienhuis mentioned. “The general public may be assured that when an worker does one thing of this nature, they’ll forfeit their means to be related to the Hernando County Sheriff’s Workplace.”
A bond of $7,000 was set for Wooden by authorities. He has since resigned from his place within the sheriff’s workplace.
Wooden referred to as HCSO deputies on June 30 to report that he had been shot within the thigh after two African-American males tried to steal his automobile whereas he was in it, based on a media launch.
He informed the officers that the shooter threatened to kill him and after blasting at him 5 occasions, ”collected the shell casing previous to fleeing the world on foot.”
Detectives would later interview Wooden whereas he was within the hospital, the place he confessed to creating up the unique story.
“Wooden mentioned he drove to Linda Pedersen Park as a result of he was upset over points he was having along with his girlfriend,” the sheriff’s report learn. “Wooden mentioned he was ‘enjoying’ along with his firearm in his car when the firearm by accident discharged, hitting him within the thigh.”
The officers added, “Wooden mentioned he made up the story concerning the tried carjacking as a result of he didn’t need to get into bother.”
Wooden might have thought enjoying the race card was a wise concept to ignite underlying prejudice locally. Hernando County is predominately white, with 88.6 % of its residents saying they’ve European ancestry and solely 6.7 % saying they’re Black, based on the latest U.S. Census. It additionally has an especially stark historical past of racial prejudice.
The Hernando Solar famous traditionally the world had “the third most lynchings of any county in america by the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI)” between the years 1880 to 1940.
Many preserve the racial divide nonetheless exists, a reality which will have coloured why Wooden fabricated his assault story.
Wooden was capable of pay his bond and was launched from jail on July 1.
