Rockford police officer cleared in shooting of Tyris Jones

ROCKFORD — Police officer Dominik McNiece was cleared of wrongdoing Tuesday in the shooting of a fleeing man last month.

McNiece, a seven-year veteran of the Rockford Police Department, was justified in his use of deadly force Oct. 2 when he shot Tyris Jones, Winnebago County State's Attorney Marilyn Hite Ross said during a news conference at the Winnebago County Courthouse.

Hite Ross said McNiece had reason to believe that Jones was a threat to the public based on warrants out for his arrest and that Jones was being investigated as a potential homicide suspect. McNiece shot Jones twice in the back and once in the arm as Jones fled his vehicle after a high-speed chase ended in a crash. McNiece thought Jones had a weapon.

"He was legally justified to use force he believed was necessary to prevent the escape," Hite Ross said. "In addition, based upon officer McNiece's observations of the defendant at the time, he reasonably believed that the defendant had a weapon even though a weapon was not found."

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The United State's Supreme Court has said that determining whether a police officer's use of deadly force is just "must embody an allowance for the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second decisions about the amount of force necessary in a particular situation," Hite Ross said.

The state's attorney also said that after reviewing the events that led up to the shooting, she opted to charge Jones with attempted vehicular hijacking and fleeing to elude an officer. A grand jury indicted Jones on those charges, she said.

Hite Ross' decision was made after reviewing the findings of the Winnebago Boone County Integrity Task Force, a group of officers from outside the Rockford force who investigated the shooting.

Hite Ross did not confirm whether the shooting was captured on video.

Jones was charged last week with first-degree murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm in connection with the Sept. 26 shooting death of 25-year-old Da'Mavlee Macklin. 

On Oct. 2, Jones, 21, of Rockford, was wanted on charges of aggravated discharge of a firearm and two separate warrants for alleged aggravated domestic battery when he was spotted by police in a vehicle. The officer attempted to make a traffic stop but Jones fled and later crashed his vehicle in the area of South Main Street and Springfield Avenue.

Jones exited the damaged vehicle and according to police appeared to be armed as he  approached another vehicle. That's when McNiece fired five shots, three that struck Jones.

McNiece was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Chief Dan O'Shea said now that the state's attorney has rendered her decision, an internal administrative review of the shooting will begin. He said he appreciated the thorough investigation conducted by the task force.

“I am thankful that the victim in the attempted vehicular hijacking was unharmed and no one was fatally injured during the pursuit and subsequent shooting," O'Shea said in a news release. "Tyris Jones, the suspect in this case, is still at large on an outstanding murder warrant and we are asking for the public’s help in locating him.” 

Leslie Rolfe is among a group of community activists seeking police reform and accountability. The group has been camping out daily on the sidewalk outside of City Hall in the wake of the shooting Jones.

"I'm not surprised," Rolfe said of the state's attorney ruling the shooting justified.

Since its formation in the wake of the Aug. 24, 2009, fatal shooting of Mark Anthony Barmore, the Winnebago Boone County Integrity Task Force has investigated numerous cases of officer use of deadly force.

"Some (cases) seem more black and white and others seem like they have more of a gray area, but the only commonality that they all have is that the police was justified in the shooting each time," Rolfe said in an interview with the Register Star. "So, I would have been more surprised if it had been ruled not justified."

Three hours after Hite Ross' news conference, Rolfe held his own calling for police dashboard camera video to be released, as well as any video from nearby businesses. He said that video is "owed to the public."

"I promise you, if Tyris Jones had had a gun and would've shot at officer Dominik McNiece and it was on the dash-cam video footage, or on the light pole video footage, or on the Smokehouse video footage or on the Shell video footage, it would have been released on Oct. 3 after the shooting," Rolfe said. 

Rolfe opened his news conference by reading off a list of fatal and non-fatal shootings by police, all which had been ruled justified.

"Tyris Jones does not stand alone in being a victim of police brutality in this city," Rolfe said while huddled under a tent at City Hall, where he said an ongoing sit-in in protest of the shooting will continue.

Jones' was release from the hospital Oct. 18 and taken to jail on the outstanding warrant charges. 

The Chicago Community Bond Fund, a nonprofit that advocates to end the cash bail system and uses a revolving bond fund to pay to have pretrial detainees released, paid Jones' initial $90,000 bail. But before Jones could be released, new charges of aggravated unlawful use of weapons by a felon and possession of a firearm without a FOID card stemming from a Sept. 17 incident were handed down. Those charges came with a new $2 million bond. 

The Chicago Community Bond Fund paid the requisite $200,000 bail on Nov. 6 to have Jones released on those charges, too. 

Less than two weeks later, Jones was charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of Macklin.

Jones was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday but failed to show. His whereabouts are not known

A $1 million bench warrant was issued for his arrest. 

Anyone with information regarding Jones' whereabouts is asked to call the Rockford Police Department at 815-966-2900 or Crime Stoppers at 815-963-7867.

Chris Green: cgreen@rrstar.com; @chrisfgreen