Mistaken identity turns deadly, deputy kills reserve deputy

07:09 PM CDT on Wednesday, July 6, 2005

By Reggie Aqui & Jason Whitely / 11 News

Click to watch Jason Whitely's report

Click to watch Reggie Aqui's report

A Precinct 6 reserve deputy constable is dead after being shot by a Harris County deputy in an apparent case of mistaken identity.

The shooting happened just after midnight Wednesday on Mesa at Tidwell in northeast Houston.

PRECINCT 6

Nehemiah Pickens

The sheriff's deputy had been chasing a car because the driver had refused to pull over.

The suspect crashed into a fence at the Dyersdale Apartments on Mesa where Reserve Deputy Nehemiah Pickens was working as a security guard.

Investigators believe Pickens saw the suspect jump out and run so he began chasing him into a nearby strip center parking lot.

Investigators say Deputy Wallace Jones, who was running behind Pickens, mistook him for a suspect when he saw him running with a gun.

One deputy told investigators Pickens never identified himself as a law enforcement officer and that he ignored orders to stop and drop his weapon.

"Deputy yelled several times for him to drop his weapon. The person holding the gun turned around and faced him so now he's pointing the gun in the general direction of the deputy," said Lt. John Martin with the Harris County Sheriff's Department.

KHOU

The sheriff's deputy had been chasing this car because the driver had refused to pull over.

That's when Jones emptied his gun, firing 16 shots at Pickens. Four bullets hit him -- one in the back of the head, two in the back and one in the back left shoulder.

James Hubbard says he heard sirens and went outside just seconds before the shooting.

"I seen one of the cops get down on one knee and just start firing. After he shot two times, it was just, he just unloaded the clip and just kept pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow. And I came in and I said 'Baby, I don't believe they just gunned that boy down," Hubbard said. "Man, I can't make no sense out of it, dude."

Pickens was not wearing a uniform and was in jeans and a dark shirt.

Ironically, Pickens was wearing a bullet-proof vest, according to sources.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

"We're gonna try to see what's going on. We're gonna just wait to see, somebody knows something. I'm gonna ask some questions. Somebody knows something. I'm gonna wait. I just want to know, and would appreciate it if somebody, even if it's an anonymous call, somebody call and tell me something, what they know what happened to my husband," says his widow, Michele Pickens.

"You don't shoot a fellow officer," said Tony Hilliard, a cousin.

Turns out, Pickens reportedly had a badge around his neck.

"In my 17 years here at the precinct this is the first time we've dealt with this," said an emotional Constable Victor Trevino.

He remembered Pickens as a top-notch reserve who reacted hoping he could help fellow law enforcement catch a fleeing suspect.

"In that situation, of course, he put his life on the line," Trevino said. "But he did what a true police officer would do -- is not think about himself, but just helping out."

Along with his wife, Pickens is survived by three children, ages 8, 11 and 18.

The 17-year-old involved in the chase turned himself in at the urging of a relative several hours after the shooting. Investigators believe he refused to pull over because he didn't have a driver's license.

The Houston Police Department and Sheriff's Department are investigating the case.

Jones has been with the department for 15 years. He's been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

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The 100 Club is accepting donations to help the family of deputy Pickens. Donations can be made to

100 Club's Survivor's Fund
1233 West Loop South, Suite 1250 Fund
Houston, Texas 77027-9107 Fund

The 100 Club provides benefits to dependents of peace officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty.