Neelys Landing man shot, killed by highway patrol trooper after traffic stop

A Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper shot and killed Jeffrey Darrell Hobbs, 48, of Neelys Landing after an attempted traffic stop Friday night.

A car is towed away from the scene of an officer-involved shooting Friday on Highway 177 near the Lil' Country Store in Jackson.Glenn Landberg

The trooper pulled Hobbs over about 6:25 p.m. after police say the suspect’s vehicle swerved and the two vehicles went down a driveway parallel to the Lil’ Country Store off Highway 177, highway patrol public information officer Sgt. Clark Parrott said in a news release Saturday. Parrott said he saw the trooper’s in-car video camera footage.

Hobbs got out of his vehicle and the trooper also exited his vehicle, Parrott said.

When Hobbs began “acting in a suspicious manner,” the trooper told the man to stop and he was able to place one handcuff on Hobbs before he escaped from the trooper, according to the release. During the fight, Parrott said, the driver struck the trooper with the loose handcuff multiple times.

The trooper made it clear he did not have his gun drawn at this point, because his hand was occupied with the cuffs, Parrott said at the scene Friday. The man then dragged the trooper back to his vehicle, jumped back inside and started to drive away, according to the release.

Members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Cape Girardeau Sheriff's Department work the scene of an officer-involved shooting Friday on Highway 177 near the Lil' Country Store in Jackson.Glenn Landberg

The two men struggled while the car went in four circles around the driveway, which was surrounded by grass. The trooper was able to turn off the vehicle, but the suspect was able to restart the car and continue driving, Parrott said in the release.

Then there was a struggle, at which point the trooper told the man to stop again and verbally warned him that if he failed to stop, he would be shot, Parrott said in the release. Then the trooper fired two rounds from his duty weapon, one of which struck Hobbs, fatally wounding him.

The trooper and other officers secured the other handcuff and attempted to provide first aid to Hobbs, Parrott said in the release, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

At the scene Friday, Parrott said the highway patrol has a policy to not release the name of an officer involved in a shooting. However, the trooper was transported to Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau because he sustained facial lacerations and other non-life-threatening injuries during the struggle, Parrott said. Parrott added the cuts were caused by the open side of the handcuffs that was loose during the incident.

The highway patrol’s Division of Drug Crime Control continues to investigate the shooting, the release stated.

Jowanda Brown, who identified herself as Hobbs’s girlfriend, said she arrived on the scene about 8 p.m. She said the man would not hurt a flea.

A friend of the man who was on scene said the man was unarmed when the incident occurred. The friend added the man had interactions with the police before, but it was regarding incidents that would merit merely a misdemeanor charge.

“They said they stopped him trying to assault a police officer, which I find very hard to believe,” Brown said, fighting back tears. “He did not deserve this. This is wrong.”

bkleine@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3644

Pertinent address:

17742 Highway 177, Jackson, Mo.