Herschel Ray Jones III and Danville Officer Thomas Cottrell
For all the talk from folks about the so-called war on cops last year, where are they now? Their opportunity to speak up is here, with news out of Ohio that a man is in custody for murdering a police officer.
Before Danville Officer Thomas Cottrell was found dead on Sunday night behind the village municipal building in Ohio, a woman called 911 to warn the police that they were in danger, as the Chicago Tribune reported. The woman’s ex-boyfriend, Herschel Ray Jones III, 32, reportedly had threatened to kill her and was armed.
“Yes, I’m in danger,” the woman told a dispatcher in a 911 call. “But the cops in Danville are in danger, too. My ex-boyfriend’s out in camo looking to kill a cop.”
According to the sheriff, in this town 60 miles northeast of Columbus, the dispatchers unsuccessfully attempted to contact Officer Cottrell. The police found Cottrell’s body later that night, with his gun and cruiser missing. He leaves three children and a fiancée. Meanwhile, Jones was spotted at 1:30 a.m. running from a home, according to ABC News, and was arrested and taken into custody.
The suspected cop killer has a lengthy criminal record dating back to 2001, according to WBNS-10TV. Court records from Knox County show that Jones has multiple convictions for breaking and entering, burglary, receiving stolen property and carrying a concealed weapon. In 2002, he pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property and was sentenced to 15 months behind bars. Three years later, he was sentenced to 17 months after pleading guilty to receiving stolen property and breaking and entering.
Meanwhile, in 2008, Jones pleaded guilty after being charged with possession of a concealed weapon as a felon. He was sentenced to 22 months in prison. He was released early, and the following year was sentenced to an additional 17 months for burglary and receiving stolen property. In 2011, Jones was charged with receiving stolen property and possessing chemicals to manufacture drugs. At first he pleaded insanity, then switched to a guilty plea and was sentenced, and based on state prison records he was released in April 2015.
Finally, according to KnoxPages.com, in October of last year Jones was charged with possession of a firearm while under disability, felonious assault and attempted rape. His bond was set at $100,000.
Meanwhile, John Jones, the suspect’s brother, said he spoke with Herschel Jones minutes before his arrest, according to NBC4i.com. He said his brother had taken Klonopin, an anti-anxiety drug.
“He was out of his mind on drugs,” Jones said. “He already had done what he done. He still didn’t admit it to me though — that’s how far out of his mind he was. He completely went over the edge.”
John Jones also said the family had called Herschel’s parole officer last week to report he had weapons and posed a risk, to which nothing was done. In addition, the suspect reportedly asked judges several times to send him to a mental hospital rather than to prison, and was denied.
Meanwhile, where is the outrage from individuals such as Rudolph Giuliani, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, the police unions and others who declared that a war on cops is in progress? Where are the people who called Black activists cop killers, and labeled the movement a hate group? Where is the extensive media coverage, as certainly would have been the case had a Black man been arrested and charged with killing a police officer? Moreover, where are the people who told us that Blue Lives Matter and All Lives Matter? We need to know where they are now, and where they were when Ciara Meyer was killed. Meyer, a 12-year old white girl, was shot to death by a Pennsylvania constable firing at her father, gunned down during an attempt to evict her family from their home.
Where are they? Nowhere to be found.
