Video: Ill. Police Officer Stops Wanted Woman after Being Dragged by Car

Under those circumstances, Villarreal said, Taylor's decision to shoot Jackson was "objectively reasonable and no criminal charges against Officer Taylor are supported by the facts."

The state's attorney office made the final determination on if the shooting was justified or if charges should be filed after the Rock Island County Integrity Task Force finished its investigation.

Attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, who are representing Jackson's family, said in a statement that Villarreal's release lacks full transparency.

"The legal team representing loved ones of Jakarta Jackson is deeply troubled by the lack of full transparency given to the family today, as a carefully edited PowerPoint presentation shared only slivers of the deadly encounter with Rock Island Police," the statement said.

"Importantly, what the family did not get to see were the critical seconds before the officer fired his weapon, killing Jakarta," the statement said.

Without the full picture of what happened, it is impossible to believe the law enforcement narrative that the shooting was justified, according to Crump and Romanucci.

"The community must ask the police: what are they hiding that they would not allow the family to witness the entire encounter," the statement said.

After the shooting, the department placed Taylor on administrative leave.

Taylor remains on administrative leave as the Rock Island Police Department's Office of Professional Standards conducts an investigation regarding Taylor's adherence to departmental policies, Chief Tim McCloud said in a release Friday.

The Integrity Task Force — a joint unit of police investigators from the Illinois State Police and different agencies in the county — investigates shootings by police or other incidents involving police officers. The agency involved in the incident does not contribute any investigators.

The shooting

At about 3:20 p.m. Jan. 5, Taylor attempted to detain Jackson, 21, of East Moline. Investigators said Jackson drove away while the officer attempted to get Jackson out of the vehicle. The officer was then dragged about 100 feet by the vehicle. Taylor shot Jackson, who died later at a hospital.

Days after the shooting, the RIPD task force and the Illinois State Police released details of what investigators think occurred.

While on patrol, Officer Taylor ran the registration on a vehicle, a Ford Fusion, he thought to be avoiding him, the task force stated. The officer found the owner, Jackson, had an active Rock Island County arrest warrant for failure to appear in a misdemeanor case.

Following the incident, the Rock Island County Sheriff's Office provided copies of that warrant to the newspaper, which show the warrant was issued Oct. 29, 2024.

A short time after finding the warrant, the officer activated his vehicle's emergency lights and attempted a stop on Jackson's vehicle. At the time of the stop, the car was occupied by Jackson and five other people.

Also in the vehicle were a 25-year-old man in the front passenger seat, a 22-year-old man in the right rear seat, a 23-year-old woman in the right rear middle seat, a 3-year-old girl in the left middle rear seat and 6-year-old boy in the left rear seat.

Family have said the 3-year-old is Jackson's daughter and the 6-year-old is his nephew.

Investigators think the driver of the car, later identified as Jackson, got out of the car and ran from the vehicle after Taylor initiated the traffic stop, according to the task force. As the officer chased Jackson, the 25-year-old man in the front passenger seat let the 23-year-old woman and the 22-year-old man out of the back seat. The 25-year-old got back into the passenger seat of the vehicle.

Jackson ran back to the car, got into the driver's seat and shut the door, according to the task force. The officer ran to the vehicle, used his baton to break the driver's window, then was able to open the driver's door.

The officer attempted to pull Jackson out of the vehicle and a struggle ensued, according to the task force. The vehicle was in drive, but the man in the passenger seat put the center console gear shift in park. Jackson put the vehicle back in drive and accelerated the vehicle with the driver's door still open.

The officer was still half inside and half outside the vehicle still struggling with Jackson, who was now driving west through the grass along the north side of the house, according to the task force. The officer's legs were being dragged on the ground while his upper body was inside the vehicle fighting with Jackson.

The vehicle was driven more than 100 feet through the grass and down an embankment before it hit a street sign and continued driving west, the task force said. The officer fired several rounds at close range striking Jackson in the torso and the vehicle came to a stop on 12th Street facing south.

The officer removed Jackson from the vehicle as two other Rock Island police officers arrived on the scene. An officer used his department-issued first aid kit and all three officers began to render aid and call for an ambulance.

Jackson was taken to UnityPoint Health-Trinity, Rock Island, where he was pronounced dead.

Community advocates for justice

Following the news of the shooting, multiple protests were held, demanding justice and more information to be released, including body camera footage.

At a protest on Saturday, Jan. 18, Stephan Blandin of the Chicago law firm Romanucci and Blandin, said he and his partners were helping Jackson's family investigate the facts surrounding his death.

At the time, the bodycam footage had not been released to the public.

Blandin said the video should have been released immediately.

"The people of Rock Island and the Quad-Cities have a right to know the police business and the right to unvarnished information about that," he said. "In this case the body camera video is going to be the best piece of information available, and we want it to be released right now."

Who was Jakarta Jackson?

Jackson was 21-years-old. A GoFundMe set up to assist with funeral costs reiterated Jackson was a father to a 3-year-old daughter.

At one of the protests, a neighbor described Jackson as kind, respectful and always having a smile on his face. A niece described him as "always smiling" and said he "loved, loved his daughter."

Jackson attended United Township High School, where he played wide receiver on the football team wearing the No. 12. He graduated in 2020.

Who is Brett Taylor?

Taylor has been with the Rock Island Police Department since November 2021, the department said in a news release. He was named Officer of the Year during the annual Community Caring Conference Heroes Awards at the Stern Center on Nov. 15, 2024, according to a post on the Rock Island Police Department's Facebook page.

In Feb. 2024, Taylor received the Distinguished Service Bar, One Star award. In May 2023, Taylor conducted a traffic stop and saw contraband in plain view. Occupants were removed from the vehicle and searched, along with the car being searched. Various drugs were found along with digital scales, packaging material and currency. One of the occupants also was a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

Reporters Tom Loewy and Grace Kinnicutt contributed to this report.

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