A police officer in Florida fired his gun at a suspect, whom he had first handcuffed, when he heard an acorn hit the police vehicle and thought it was a shot.

The incredible incident, typical of Americans’ gun obsession, took place on a November day in 2023 in Okaloosa County, according to a video recently released by the local sheriff.

The video shows Officer Jesse Hernandez as he prepares to enter the police vehicle. Inside the car, in the back seat, is a 24-year-old suspect, whom he had just arrested and handcuffed.

That’s when a large acorn falls on the car, according to the results of an eight-week internal police investigation that resulted in a 44-page report.

The sound of the acorn was captured by the camera worn by Hernandez, who exactly 1.1 seconds later began shouting “gunshots! shooting!”.

Immediately the officer drops to the ground, rolls down and pulls out his gun, before firing multiple shots at the police vehicle. “They hit me! They hit me!”, he can be heard shouting in the video.

At the same time his colleague, who was also outside the police vehicle, also took out her weapon and emptied the magazine in the car.

Miraculously the suspect in the back seat was not hit by the bullets. The investigation showed that the arrested Marquis Jackson was not carrying a weapon.

Hernandez, a former soldier who had recently joined the police force, was found guilty of excessive use of deadly force. He stated that he believed the sound of the acorn to be a shot from a silenced pistol. He resigned from the police force.

“I admit that this was a particularly dramatic and traumatic moment for Jackson and we are truly relieved that he was not injured,” Sheriff Eric Aden said in a public apology.