Sheriff's Lt. Marc Crawford fired multiple shots into a tractor-trailer during a crash last March. | News4Jax
Published on December 30, 2025 at 3:54 pm
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A Jacksonville sheriff’s lieutenant who shot four times into a tractor-trailer on Interstate 95 in March will not be charged in connection with the incident, the State Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.
Based on all the evidence, including physical reconstruction and witness testimony, the State Attorney’s Office concluded that it could not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Lt. Marc Crawford’s use of deadly force was unjustified.
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“Accordingly, there is no reasonable probability of securing a conviction, and criminal charges will not be filed in this matter,” an assistant state attorney wrote in a disposition statement.
Investigators said the evidence establishes that the truck driver was involved in an initial collision that occurred when Crawford tried to merge.
After that impact, investigators said, the truck struck Crawford’s vehicle a second time and pushed it forward for an undetermined distance. During this sequence, Crawford said that he “feared imminent death or great bodily harm and discharged his firearm.”
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The precise sequence of events could not be conclusively established, investigators said, but it is clear that during or immediately after the second contact, Crawford fired his gun four times.
Two bullets entered the truck’s cabin, and one struck the driver in the stomach, investigators said. But the round did not penetrate the body of the driver, likely because its velocity was reduced after passing through the truck’s frame.
The lieutenant’s account
Several days after the incident, Crawford provided a written statement to investigators detailing his account.
Crawford said that while attempting to merge in front of the truck, he heard the truck’s engine rev to full power, as if accelerating to prevent the merge or to strike his car. Crawford reported feeling a substantial impact, at which point he said he activated his emergency lights and tried to stop.
According to Crawford, as he tried to exit his vehicle, the truck accelerated again and continued pushing his car toward stopped traffic and the concrete median. Crawford said he heard the truck downshift and felt his vehicle being forced forward.
At that time, Crawford said the driver-side door was open, his feet were on the running board, and he was holding onto the vehicle to avoid falling into the roadway. Crawford said he feared he would either fall into the truck’s path or be crushed between the truck and other vehicles, so he shot at the driver.
Crawford said he stopped firing when his vehicle veered left, out of the truck’s path, and struck the concrete barrier.
Upon exiting his truck, investigators said, the truck driver appeared confused and said he had no understanding of what had happened.
During his interview with detectives, the driver said he was unaware of any collision and only realized something was wrong when he heard gunfire and felt an impact to his stomach. The driver said it was at that point he observed Crawford’s car against the concrete barrier and saw Crawford yelling for him to stop.
The truck driver said he had been driving in stop-and-go traffic in the second lane from the left and had just lit a cigar when he began hearing gunshots. He told investigators that traffic was moving at approximately 20 mph or less.
The driver said his practice, given the weight of his load, is to focus on traffic ahead rather than the vehicle directly in front of him to allow sufficient reaction time.
Investigators said the re-creation confirmed that the driver likely could not have seen the car during the first point of contact. But unlike the initial impact, the reconstruction suggests the driver likely could have — or should have — observed Crawford’s car being pushed in front of his truck as it veered toward the barrier after the second collision.
Crash investigators found Crawford at fault for the crash, and a diagram showed the two positions that Crawford’s vehicle was in during the traffic incident. The driver was not charged.
Detectives identified six witnesses during their investigation. Of the six witnesses who volunteered information about the incident, only two claimed to have seen the shooting.
“In this matter, the State cannot establish the precise sequence of events leading to [Crawford’s] use of force. Significant factual disputes and gaps exist among witness accounts regarding critical details of [Crawford’s] claim,” Assistant State Attorney Chris Huband wrote. “These inconsistencies prevent the State from rebutting [Crawford’s] version of events beyond a reasonable doubt.
A Sheriff’s Office spokesman said Tuesday that the agency had read the disposition from the State Attorney’s Office, and the incident is now under an administrative investigation within the Sheriff’s Office Internal Affairs Unit. Crawford continues to be administratively reassigned, without police powers.
The Sheriff’s Office said in the past that Crawford was reassigned to the Tele-Serv team after the shooting. The unit that takes reports about minor incidents over the phone in order to relieve officers to handle more serious investigations.
This story was produced by News4Jax, a Jacksonville Today news partner.
