Mobile police chief details what led up to officer-involved shooting Tuesday

UPDATE: UPDATE: Dequarrio Hines has been denied bond per the state’s request, according to the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office. His arraignment is set for Jan. 9.

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EARLIER STORY:

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Mobile Police Chief Paul Prine provides new details in an incident where a Mobile police officer struggled with a suspect, then fired a shot.

Prine says no one was hit.

Twenty-five-year-old Dequarrio Hines was taken into custody. He faces charges of assault and resisting arrest.

Prine says at one point the suspect ended up on top of the officer, forcing him to protect himself.

“That is just cause to use any type of force including deadly force. An officer is not exempt from protecting himself,” Prine said.

On Tuesday, at the intersection of Plover and Partridge streets, investigators say an officer attempted to pull over a man riding on a non-street legal dirt bike.

The man on the bike was identified as Dequarrio Hines.

Prine says Hines wasn’t wearing a helmet or displaying a tag on the bike.

“At some point, there was contact between the two and as the officer was conducting his duties and running the person’s background the officer attempted to detain the individual,” Prine says. “The individual did not comply with the officer’s commands and a struggle ensued. At which point the offender Mr. Hines ended up on top of the officer.”

Prine says the officer pulled out his gun and fired one round at Hines, but missed.

Both suffered from minor injuries during the struggle.

Prine says the actions of the officer were justified because he feared for his life.

“Part of a person defending themselves is the fear of being incapacitated. The officer feared for his life at that point because of the actions and intentions of Mr. Hines,” Prine explained. “And that he was able to overcome the officer’s resistance.”

Investigators say Hines ran but was caught a mile away and taken into custody.

Prine says that Hines was already on probation for assaulting another police officer a year ago at MPD.

Hines is scheduled to appear in court Thursday on these latest charges.

The officer involved in the struggle Tuesday has been placed on administrative leave and is expected to return to work at the beginning of the year.

That officer was wearing a body camera and it was on during the incident.

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