Flawed Police Decisions Turned Deadly

Innocent Man Slain in 2000 Secret Pursuit, but Pr. George's Offers Few Answers

His voice quaking and his gun emptied, Cpl. Carlton B. Jones of the Prince George's County Police Department dialed 911 on his cellular phone. A man had just rammed his unmarked vehicle, he reported, and he had opened fire in self-defense.

As Jones muttered obscenities, confessing he was "scared half to death," the 911 operator asked him whom he had shot. There was a long pause.

"Chenier Hartwell," Jones finally replied, a recording of the call shows. "That should be his name, Chenier Hartwell. I've got his case file somewhere in my car. Jesus."

In fact, the man who lay wounded nearby on a quiet residential street in Fairfax County on Sept. 1, 2000, was someone else: Prince C. Jones Jr., a Howard University student driving to a late-night rendezvous with his fiancee. He died soon after, not knowing who had shot him five times in the back, or why.

The 911 conversation is contained in confidential files and reports collected by investigators and lawyers involved in the case. Despite promises by authorities to get to the bottom of the shooting, which occurred after police mistakenly tailed the man through Maryland, the District and into Virginia, many details have remained secret for almost two years.

The FBI, Fairfax County police, the Fairfax commonwealth's attorney and Prince George's police all investigated the matter but have not made their findings public. None of the officers involved in the shooting or the three-hour surveillance operation that led to it has been disciplined or charged with a crime.

But an examination of thousands of pages of records -- including sworn depositions, police investigative reports, court documents, photographs and forensic evidence -- produces a clearer picture of a fatal shooting that seized the public's attention for weeks and prompted an ongoing federal investigation into the use of deadly force by the Prince George's Police Department.

Although the records provide the most complete account to date, many questions remain unanswered. And in piecing together what happened during the shooting, investigators were forced to rely almost solely on the account of Cpl. Jones, the only person present on the dark street who is still alive.

Disguised as a Dealer

About 9 p.m. Aug. 31, 2000, Carlton Jones showed up to work, wearing a disguise.

He wanted to look like a Jamaican drug dealer; his hair was knotted in dreadlocks, and he wore a white T-shirt and jeans. It was normal attire for his job as an undercover detective, assigned to a narcotics squad based in the Prince George's Police Department's Hyattsville station.

Like the man he would secretly tail for 25 miles across the nation's capital and into two states, Carlton Jones had attended Howard University, where he majored in zoology but did not receive a degree. He joined the Prince George's police in 1994.