Three Hamilton County sheriff's deputies were involved in a shooting that left a man dead last week in Chattanooga, the Sheriff's Office said Wednesday.
Detective Jeremi Vandergriff, Cpl. Chris Walker and Civil Process Server Jason Cooper were involved in the Dec. 29 shooting, a news release said.
Two Chattanooga police officers, Ryan Blevins and investigator Brian McClard, were also "closely involved," Police Chief Celeste Murphy said at a news conference Wednesday.
(READ MORE: Deputies shoot, kill man in downtown Chattanooga after chase)
Deputies shot and killed Damean Jones, a 26-year-old from Chattanooga, after a series of car chases that began in Hamilton County and ended when Jones appeared to crash his car at the corner of M. L. King Boulevard and Lindsay Street in downtown Chattanooga.
Vandergriff was shot during the incident, according to the Sheriff's Office, and treated at Erlanger hospital. He was released the same day, Wednesday's release said.
A detective in the office's fugitive unit, Vandergriff was previously involved in a non-fatal 2017 shooting but did not fire any shots himself, according to court filings. A lawsuit against sheriff's deputies involved in that incident, including Vandergriff, was dismissed in 2020.
Walker was also involved in a past shooting, one that killed a man in Soddy-Daisy roughly three weeks before the shooting involving Vandergriff in 2017. A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit over the man's death in 2020, court filings show.
All three deputies were placed on paid administrative leave for 14 days starting on the day of the shooting, which is Sheriff's Office policy, according to the release.
Blevins and McClard, the Chattanooga officers, were put on the same kind of leave and should be back to work by Friday -- after a week -- according to department spokeswoman Sydney Hamon.
Chattanooga police joined the chase for Jones in a "supportive role," Murphy said.
"We're not sure yet, the investigation will pan out the ballistics in that situation, so I don't want to speak too deeply on that, but we have two officers in particular ... that may have a little bit more of an acute relationship with the situation," Murphy said. "But we were, as a unit, as a department, in a supportive role in that, and we will continue to support them in that."
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is leading a review of the shooting, at the direction of Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp.
Jones was suspected of stealing a car the night before in Catoosa County, Georgia, according to Hamilton County Sheriff Austin Garrett.
The car, a white Kia, was reported stolen Dec. 28. The man who reported the theft to Catoosa County deputies said he'd given Jones a ride to a store near Ringgold, Georgia, and left his keys in the car while they both went inside. Jones got back to the car first, the man told investigators, and drove off in it.
Hamilton County deputies first tried to pull Jones over around 5 or 5:30 a.m. on Dec. 29, after seeing the car he was driving had been reported stolen. Jones managed to get away twice before being chased into downtown, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Jones was killed after exchanging shots with deputies and died at the scene, officials said.
Both the Sheriff's Office's and Police Department's chase policies allow officers to join and assist chases that start in other areas and come into their own jurisdictions, according to copies of the agencies' policy manuals. While most chases are limited to two law enforcement vehicles, the policies allow for additional cars when ordered by a supervisor.
It is unknown what tactics -- if any -- were used to stop Jones after Thursday's chases, as agencies have declined to answer questions citing the ongoing investigation. Both agencies allow officers to use spike strips and other "forcible stopping techniques" when other options for ending a chase have been exhausted.
Contact Ellen Gerst at egerst@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6319.
Hamilton County Sheriff's Office / Damean Jones