RUSTON, La. (KTVE/KARD) — In the early morning hours of Saturday, October 17, officers with the Ruston Police Department were dispatched to the Whataburger parking lot in regards to a man that had fallen asleep in his vehicle while driving.
When authorities arrived, they found a white Ford truck blocking traffic from entering the drive-thru. Per witnesses on the scene, the vehicle had been there for over an hour.
While investigating the situation, officers found 24-year-old Dakendric Jones asleep in the passenger seat. Authorities attempted to wake Jones, and upon doing so he began accelerating the vehicle rapidly while officers fought to get the vehicle in park.
Per the arrest report, once the vehicle was in park, Jones began reaching for a handgun that was on the driver’s seat. Jones reportedly reached for the gun multiple times until officers overpowered him and threw it out of reach.
After a continued struggle, Jones was eventually removed from the vehicle and placed under arrest. While retrieving the gun from Jones’s vehicle, officers also found an open bottle of alcohol on the passenger side floorboard. Jones later admitted to officers he did not intend to shoot them with the gun, he was just heavily intoxicated.
Jones was arrested and booked into the Lincoln Parish Detention Center on the following charges:
- Attempted Murder of a Police Officer
- Reckless Operation of a Vehicle
- Open Container
- Resisting an Officer