Police Brutality / Individual record
David Jones
The Washington Post's Fatal Force database records David Jones in a fatal on-duty police shooting on 2017-06-08 in Philadelphia, PA. Individual circumstances and legal outcome require case-specific review.
- Record ID
- PB-685
- Incident date
- June 8, 2017
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Philadelphia, PA
- Agency
- Philadelphia Police Department
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 30
What happened
David Jones was shot and killed by Philadelphia police Officer Ryan Pownall in June 2017 after being stopped while riding a dirt bike. During the encounter, Jones reportedly had a gun, but he fled on foot after the officers approached. Pownall shot Jones in the back as he ran away, and the case raised questions about whether Jones posed an immediate threat at the time the officer fired. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner later charged Pownall with murder, drawing national attention to criminal accountability for a fatal police shooting. On October 11, 2022, Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara McDermott dismissed the criminal charges after finding that prosecutors had improperly instructed the grand jury. Philadelphia's Citizens Police Oversight Commission publicly documented the dismissal two days later. The charge and its dismissal are different legal events: dismissal on grand-jury instruction grounds is not a trial acquittal, and a criminal indictment does not establish guilt.
Investigation & findings
Individual legal and investigative outcome not yet reviewed.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 2648
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Armed status (source)
- unarmed
- Flee status (source)
- foot
- Agency IDs (source)
- 671
Sources & records
- Primary source
- Additional source
- Methodology and national police killings trackingMapping Police Violence · Dataset/methodology
- Fatal Force v2 — fatal on-duty police shootings, 2015–2024The Washington Post · Dataset